American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Raised to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $84.00 target price on the utilities provider's stock, up from their previous target price of $76.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price target points to a potential upside of 10.54% from the company's previous close.

AWR has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of American States Water from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of American States Water from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th.

American States Water Stock Performance

NYSE:AWR traded down $2.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $75.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 113,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 216,338. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $69.46 and a fifty-two week high of $87.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $78.32 and its 200-day moving average is $78.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.64.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.70. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The company had revenue of $148.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. American States Water's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at American States Water

In other 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 transaction of $74,613.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,687. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AWR. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 92.5% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 439 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 2,173.9% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 523 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 367.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company's stock.

About American States Water

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.