American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Thomas A. Eichelberger Buys 640 Shares

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Thomas A. Eichelberger purchased 640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.62 per share, for a total transaction of $49,676.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,805.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

American States Water Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE AWR traded down $0.99 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.81. The stock had a trading volume of 131,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 229,352. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.83. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $92.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.43.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.62. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 19.95%. The company had revenue of $135.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.21%.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,760,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $343,900,000 after buying an additional 132,674 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in American States Water by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 884,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,589,000 after purchasing an additional 153,409 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in American States Water by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 834,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,097,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of American States Water by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 590,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,462,000 after purchasing an additional 4,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,984,000. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American States Water from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th.

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.