American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Rating Lowered to Underperform at Bank of America

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was downgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $71.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $85.00. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 2.45% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th.

American States Water Stock Performance

AWR opened at $72.78 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $77.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.15. American States Water has a 52-week low of $66.03 and a 52-week high of $87.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The company had revenue of $161.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in American States Water by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 20,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American States Water in the 4th quarter valued at $346,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in American States Water by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in American States Water during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in American States Water by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 97,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,567,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.