American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Shares Acquired by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG increased its position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR – Get Rating) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,153 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned about 0.20% of American States Water worth $6,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in American States Water by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in American States Water by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in American States Water by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 89,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in American States Water by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,257,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in American States Water during the fourth quarter worth approximately $240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.09% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $87.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 32.98 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. American States Water has a twelve month low of $71.22 and a twelve month high of $100.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $125.37 million during the quarter. American States Water had a net margin of 18.12% and a return on equity of 12.74%. Equities research analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.3975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $1.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American States Water news, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $89.99 per share, with a total value of $179,980.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,980. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of American States Water in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.67.

American States Water Profile

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