Essex Savings Bank Makes New $273,000 Investment in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Essex Savings Bank acquired a new position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWR. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in American States Water in the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American States Water by 18,820.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of American States Water in the second quarter worth approximately $80,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in American States Water by 31.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 33.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AWR. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of American States Water in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

American States Water Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of AWR opened at $75.49 on Friday. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $66.03 and a fifty-two week high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $80.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). American States Water had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $161.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.63%.

American States Water 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.