Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 18,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,488,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWR. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in American States Water by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 45,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in American States Water by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in American States Water by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 36,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8,078 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in American States Water by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 25,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,297,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American States Water by 54.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 19,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE AWR opened at $69.25 on Friday. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $92.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $71.66 and a 200-day moving average of $76.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.43.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. American States Water had a net margin of 20.97% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The company had revenue of $125.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. American States Water’s payout ratio is currently 51.04%.

Insider Transactions at American States Water

In other news, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $71.21 per share, for a total transaction of $99,694.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $416,578.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of American States Water from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd.

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.