StockNews.com Upgrades American States Water (NYSE:AWR) to “Hold”

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AWR. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

American States Water Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE AWR opened at $79.51 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $74.82 and its 200-day moving average is $80.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. American States Water has a twelve month low of $66.03 and a twelve month 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. Equities research analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AWR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter worth $45,254,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of American States Water by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,118,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,935,000 after acquiring an additional 264,257 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in American States Water by 107.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,815,000 after buying an additional 197,556 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in American States Water by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 350,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,250,000 after buying an additional 82,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in American States Water by 332.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 101,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,753,000 after buying an additional 77,792 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.