American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Buys $68,898.57 in Stock

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) Director Thomas A. Eichelberger bought 897 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.81 per share, for a total transaction of $68,898.57. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 8,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $650,350.27. This trade represents a 11.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of AWR traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $76.60. The company had a trading volume of 119,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 216,072. American States Water has a 1-year low of $69.46 and a 1-year 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.62. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $78.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.92.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70. The firm had revenue of $148.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.00 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. Analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. American States Water's payout ratio is presently 57.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American States Water from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American States Water from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 172.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 78,706 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,554,000 after acquiring an additional 49,851 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,831,526 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,506,000 after acquiring an additional 33,371 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $7,753,000 after acquiring an additional 77,792 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in American States Water by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 484,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,653,000 after purchasing an additional 102,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company's stock.

American States Water Company 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.

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