American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Short Interest Down 6.5% in October

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 428,800 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the October 15th total of 458,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 201,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Transactions at American States Water

In related news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $40,445.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,519 shares in the company, valued at $3,115,801.91. The trade was a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American States Water by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,760,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $343,900,000 after purchasing an additional 132,674 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American States Water by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,884,000 after buying an additional 13,024 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of American States Water by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 845,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,389,000 after acquiring an additional 6,372 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 450,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,714,000 after acquiring an additional 24,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 205.5% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 440,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,974,000 after acquiring an additional 296,361 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AWR. StockNews.com cut American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $84.93 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.43. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.49. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released 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). American States Water had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $161.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.