Trexquant Investment LP Purchases 34,563 Shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 87.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 74,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,563 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in American States Water were worth $5,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American States Water by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 855,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,471,000 after buying an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in American States Water by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,664 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in American States Water by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,118,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,935,000 after buying an additional 264,257 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd.

Insider Transactions at American States Water

In other American States Water news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $74,613.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,226,687. This represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR opened at $78.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $87.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. Research analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.68%.

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.