Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 472,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,296 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.23% of American States Water worth $37,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in American States Water by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,871 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in American States Water by 2.1% during the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 8,849 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in American States Water by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,900 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in American States Water by 92.5% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 439 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in American States Water by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised American States Water from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWR traded down $1.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.57. The company had a trading volume of 442,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 217,278. American States Water Company has a twelve month low of $70.30 and a twelve month high of $87.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 20.22%. The company had revenue of $148.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $142.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American States Water Company will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.4655 dividend. 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 2.46%. American States Water's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American States Water

In related news, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger purchased 897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $76.81 per share, with a total value of $68,898.57. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,467 shares in the company, valued at $650,350.27. The trade was a 11.85% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American States Water 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.