Aris Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ARIS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Aris Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ARIS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a decrease of 17.1% from the February 13th total of 1,990,000 shares. Currently, 6.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 799,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aris Water Solutions

In other Aris Water Solutions news, major shareholder Yorktown Energy Partners Xi, L sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $27,700,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder S Corp Gable sold 160,539 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $4,042,372.02. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,951,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,311,190.82. This trade represents a 5.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,910,142 shares of company stock worth $50,977,332 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 23.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Aris Water Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $29,663,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Aris Water Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,828,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in Aris Water Solutions by 70,079.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 349,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,370,000 after purchasing an additional 348,994 shares during the last quarter. NBW Capital LLC boosted its stake in Aris Water Solutions by 1,191.8% during the 4th quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 263,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,307,000 after purchasing an additional 242,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Aris Water Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,717,000. 39.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aris Water Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ARIS stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 49,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,533. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 1.88. Aris Water Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $12.44 and a fifty-two week high of $33.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Aris Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Aris Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Aris Water Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Aris Water Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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. Evercore ISI downgraded Aris Water Solutions from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded Aris Water Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Aris Water Solutions Company Profile

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.