American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,358 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in American States Water were worth $9,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in American States Water by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,884,000 after acquiring an additional 13,024 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American States Water by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,873,000 after purchasing an additional 13,276 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American States Water by 107.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,815,000 after purchasing an additional 197,556 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of American States Water by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 158,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,184,000 after purchasing an additional 36,122 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of American States Water by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 107,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,343,000 after purchasing an additional 8,278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on AWR shares. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th.

American States Water Price Performance

AWR opened at $75.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $75.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.40. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.68%.

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.