American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to an “underperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, The Fly reports.
Separately, Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.
American States Water (AWR) traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $56.68. 514,200 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 140,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $41.14 and a fifty-two week high of $58.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2,080.00, a PE ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 0.48.
In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $55,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,399 shares in the company, valued at $2,111,945. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 1,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.42, for a total transaction of $96,178.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,775 shares of company stock worth $311,573. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AWR. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in American States Water by 54.4% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 211,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,399,000 after acquiring an additional 74,392 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,768,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,644,000 after buying an additional 74,002 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water during the third quarter valued at about $3,402,000. Chicago Equity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water during the second quarter valued at about $2,454,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water during the third quarter valued at about $2,142,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.00% of the company’s stock.
American States Water Company Profile
American States Water Company (AWR) is a holding company. The Company is the parent company of Golden State Water Company (GSWC) and American States Utility Services, Inc (ASUS), as well as ASUS’ subsidiaries, such as Fort Bliss Water Services Company (FBWS), Terrapin Utility Services, Inc (TUS), Old Dominion Utility Services, Inc (ODUS), Palmetto State Utility Services, Inc (PSUS) and Old North Utility Services, Inc (ONUS).
