American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 705,700 shares, a drop of 8.7% from the December 31st total of 773,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 204,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American States Water in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 367.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of American States Water during the third quarter worth $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 18,820.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 946 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,262 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American States Water Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:AWR traded up $0.48 on Wednesday, reaching $73.26. 54,075 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,955. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 12.06 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. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $77.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.15.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AWR shares. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American States Water from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American States Water from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th.

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.