Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. $WMS Shares Acquired by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS - Free Report) by 25.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,740 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 17,546 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.11% of Advanced Drainage Systems worth $11,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMS. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,551,901 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $353,949,000 after purchasing an additional 75,777 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,204,801 shares of the construction company's stock worth $302,290,000 after purchasing an additional 546,298 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 80.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,279,576 shares of the construction company's stock worth $185,324,000 after purchasing an additional 572,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,271,453 shares of the construction company's stock worth $184,184,000 after purchasing an additional 15,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,264,156 shares of the construction company's stock worth $183,088,000 after purchasing an additional 75,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.83% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Advanced Drainage Systems from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group cut their target price on Advanced Drainage Systems from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Stephens raised shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $175.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a report on Thursday, June 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $175.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $187.00.

Advanced Drainage Systems Stock Up 4.9%

WMS stock opened at $145.20 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $143.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.18. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.67 and a 12 month high of $179.32. The company has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The construction company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.12. Advanced Drainage Systems had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 26.63%. The company had revenue of $676.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $651.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Advanced Drainage Systems's quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Advanced Drainage Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from Advanced Drainage Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Advanced Drainage Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.71%.

Advanced Drainage Systems Profile

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc NYSE: WMS is a leading manufacturer and supplier of water management solutions in North America. Headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, the company specializes in the design, production and distribution of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) drainage pipe and related products. Its core business addresses stormwater management, on-site septic systems and erosion control for residential, commercial and infrastructure projects.

The company's product portfolio includes corrugated plastic pipe, tubing, fittings, geocells, geogrids and stormwater structures such as inlets, manholes and detention/retention systems.

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