American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Rating Lowered to “Underweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $77.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $84.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 5.67% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America started coverage on American States Water in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock.

American States Water Stock Performance

AWR stock opened at $72.87 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water in the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in American States Water by 18,820.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in American States Water in the 2nd quarter worth $80,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in American States Water by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in American States Water by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.