Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Aris Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ARIS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aris Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ARIS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 30,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARIS. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Aris Water Solutions by 13.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 662,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,173,000 after buying an additional 80,490 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Aris Water Solutions by 277.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 35,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 25,790 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aris Water Solutions by 66.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 8,499 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Aris Water Solutions by 140.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 487,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,644,000 after purchasing an additional 284,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aris Water Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,080,000. 39.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Aris Water Solutions from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Aris Water Solutions from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Aris Water Solutions from $21.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aris Water Solutions from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.83.

Insider Transactions at Aris Water Solutions

In other news, major shareholder S Corp Gable sold 316,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.28, for a total transaction of $7,998,794.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,634,791 shares in the company, valued at $66,607,516.48. This represents a 10.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Debra Coy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.39, for a total transaction of $38,085.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,068,461.98. The trade was a 3.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 574,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,523,915 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 23.06% of the company’s stock.

Aris Water Solutions Price Performance

ARIS stock opened at $24.69 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.04 and a 200-day moving average of $18.94. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Aris Water Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.74 and a 12-month high of $27.94.

Aris Water Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Aris Water Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.50%.

About Aris Water Solutions

Aris Water Solutions, Inc, an environmental infrastructure and solutions company, provides water handling and recycling solutions. The company's produced water handling business gathers, transports, unless recycled, and handles produced water generated from oil and natural gas production. Its water solutions business develops and operates recycling facilities to treat, store, and recycle produced water.