StockNews.com Downgrades Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) to Sell

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Aris Water Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $21.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Aris Water Solutions from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $27.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aris Water Solutions has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.00.

Aris Water Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARIS traded up $1.93 on Friday, hitting $26.50. The company had a trading volume of 312,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,849. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12 and a beta of 1.81. 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 has a 1-year low of $12.44 and a 1-year high of $33.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.81.

Aris Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase from Aris Water Solutions's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Aris Water Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nicholas A. Patterson sold 8,299 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.60, for a total transaction of $253,949.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,781,776.80. This represents a 12.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Yorktown Energy Partners Xi, L sold 1,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $27,700,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,604 shares of company stock valued at $29,817,145 over the last ninety days. 23.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aris Water Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Aris Water Solutions by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 402,093 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,783,000 after purchasing an additional 216,158 shares during 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 valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 25,790 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Aris Water Solutions by 13.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 662,324 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,173,000 after purchasing an additional 80,490 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aris Water Solutions by 66.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,341 shares of the company's stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 8,499 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aris Water Solutions in the third quarter valued at $266,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.71% of the company's stock.

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.