American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Short Interest Down 8.7% in December

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 705,700 shares, a decline of 8.7% from the December 15th total of 773,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 204,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AWR shares. StockNews.com cut American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America started coverage on American States Water in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water during the second quarter worth about $80,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of American States Water by 31.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of American States Water by 33.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of American States Water stock opened at $74.99 on Friday. American States Water has a twelve month low of $66.03 and a twelve month high of $87.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.24.

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

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.63%.

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.