American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Short Interest Down 13.4% in February

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) saw a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 622,100 shares, a decrease of 13.4% from the January 31st total of 718,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 205,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AWR. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in American States Water during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American States Water in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in American States Water by 92.5% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in American States Water by 2,173.9% during the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in American States Water by 367.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Price Performance

AWR opened at $77.67 on Thursday. American States Water has a twelve month low of $66.03 and a twelve month high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.21.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 20.03%. Equities research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th.

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.