Insider Selling: American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Sells $74,613.00 in Stock

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,687. This trade represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

American States Water Price Performance

NYSE:AWR opened at $79.30 on Monday. American States Water has a 1-year low of $66.03 and a 1-year high of $87.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.17 million. On average, research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is 58.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWR. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in American States Water during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 14.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the third quarter worth $496,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 31.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 11.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AWR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Bank of America downgraded shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.