American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Thomas A. Eichelberger Purchases 897 Shares

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Thomas A. Eichelberger acquired 897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $76.81 per share, with a total value of $68,898.57. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $650,350.27. This trade represents a 11.85% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

American States Water Trading Down 0.7%

American States Water stock opened at $76.60 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.86. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.62. American States Water has a 52-week low of $69.46 and a 52-week high of $87.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

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

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 57.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at about $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. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 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.