Kennondale Capital Management LLC Takes $431,000 Position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Kennondale Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AWR. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in American States Water by 14.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in American States Water during the third quarter worth about $496,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in 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 period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in American States Water by 11.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

American States Water Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AWR opened at $77.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.06.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.17 million. As a group, research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. American States Water’s payout ratio is 58.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.