American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest dropped 20.7% in March to 796,009 shares (about 2.0% of shares short), implying a short-interest ratio of roughly 2.5 days based on average volume.
• American States Water beat EPS estimates for the quarter ($0.74 vs. $0.68) while revenue of $164.28 million missed estimates, and analysts hold a consensus rating of Hold with a $84.00 price target.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.504 (paid March 5), equal to $2.02 annualized with a ~2.7% yield and a dividend payout ratio near 59.9%.

American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 796,009 shares, a decrease of 20.7% from the March 15th total of 1,004,011 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 318,432 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

American States Water Stock Performance

AWR stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $75.35. 289,958 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 287,560. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.93. American States Water has a 12 month low of $69.45 and a 12 month high of $82.94.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $164.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $168.82 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 19.82%. On average, analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a $0.504 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American States Water's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American States Water in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $84.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AWR. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 23.7% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,260 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 6.0% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of American States Water by 768.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 4,160 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 9.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 284,620 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $22,394,000 after purchasing an additional 25,333 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of American States Water by 2,606.4% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 89,717 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,059,000 after purchasing an additional 86,402 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company's stock.

About American States Water

American States Water Company NYSE: AWR, founded in 1929 and headquartered in San Dimas, California, is a publicly traded utility holding company. The company operates primarily through two regulated segments—water and electric utilities—and provides non-regulated water system services. Over its history, American States Water has expanded its footprint through strategic acquisitions and organic growth, positioning itself as a reliable provider of essential services in its core territories.

Within its regulated water utility segment, American States Water serves more than 250,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across 35 communities in six counties of California.

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