Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to "Sell"

StockNews.com cut shares of Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

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

Aris Water Solutions Stock Up 1.8 %

ARIS traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $24.89. 45,957 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 555,512. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10 and a beta of 1.81. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $28.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.10. Aris Water Solutions has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $33.95.

Aris Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Aris Water Solutions's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Aris Water Solutions's payout ratio is 70.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brunt David Dylan Van sold 32,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.15, for a total transaction of $973,995.75. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 85,656 shares in the company, valued at $2,582,528.40. The trade was a 27.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas A. Patterson sold 8,299 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.60, for a total value of $253,949.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,781,776.80. The trade was a 12.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,604 shares of company stock worth $29,817,145. Insiders own 23.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aris Water Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARIS. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Aris Water Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Aris Water Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Aris Water Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Aris Water Solutions in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aris Water Solutions by 74.5% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,042 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares during the period. 39.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Aris Water Solutions

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.