California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. $WMS

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS - Free Report) by 15,172.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,246,953 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 13,160,213 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 17.57% of Advanced Drainage Systems worth $2,079,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Advanced Drainage Systems by 352.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 226 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,049 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,784 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $403,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 101,512 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $11,660,000 after buying an additional 2,206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Advanced Drainage Systems from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $175.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $206.00 target price on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Advanced Drainage Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $188.70.

Advanced Drainage Systems Stock Performance

WMS opened at $128.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $142.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.77. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.39 and a 1-year high of $179.32.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The construction company reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.39. Advanced Drainage Systems had a return on equity of 28.28% and a net margin of 14.00%.The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $991.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. Advanced Drainage Systems's revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Drainage Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. Advanced Drainage Systems's payout ratio is 13.82%.

Advanced Drainage Systems Profile

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc NYSE: WMS designs and manufactures water management products for the construction, infrastructure, agriculture and residential markets. Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, the company is known for its thermoplastic corrugated pipe and related systems used to collect, convey, store and manage stormwater and wastewater.

Its product portfolio includes stormwater detention and infiltration systems, sanitary and septic sewer products, agricultural drainage systems, erosion and sediment control products, and water-quality solutions.

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