5,970 Shares in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Acquired by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AWR. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of American States Water by 172.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 78,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,554,000 after acquiring an additional 49,851 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in American States Water by 400.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,952 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in American States Water by 332.0% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 101,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,753,000 after buying an additional 77,792 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in American States Water by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 484,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,653,000 after buying an additional 102,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 192.4% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $563,000 after buying an additional 4,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $74,613.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,226,687. This represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AWR. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR opened at $78.78 on Wednesday. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.65.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.17 million. Research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.68%.

American States Water Profile

American States Water Company, through its subsidiaries, provides water and electric services to residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Water, Electric, and Contracted Services. The company purchases, produces, distributes, and sells water, as well as distributes electricity.