During December, there was a discernible increase in the number of investors who sold short their holdings of American States Water (NYSE: AWR) shares. There were 739,100 shares available for a short sale as of December 15. This represents a 21.0% increase from the 610,600 shares available for short sale one month earlier. A total of two zero percent of the company’s shares are traded in the short market. The days-to-cover ratio currently stands at 3.8 days at this time. This figure was arrived at by considering that the daily volume of shares traded on average is 192,400.
During recent years, significant shareholders in the company have been active in taking action to bring about change. During the second quarter of the financial year, Royce & Associates LP successfully increased its ownership percentage in American States Water by 61.8%. Royce & Associates LP is now the owner of a total of 6,042 stock held by the utility provider due to the company’s purchase of an additional 2,308 shares during the period. The stock is currently valued at a combined total of $490,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased the amount of American States Water stock owned by 5.0% during the year’s second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now holds 113,757 shares of the utility provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,411 shares during the most recent quarter. The stock is currently valued at $9,272,000. The share of ownership that Pendal Group Ltd. holds in American States Water was raised to a total of 28.9% during the second quarter. After purchasing an additional 7,054 shares during the most recent quarter, Pendal Group Ltd now owns a total of 31,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock. The current market value of these shares is $2,567,000. The proportion of American States Water that Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. owns in the market increased by 33.3% during the second quarter thanks to the company’s investment. As a result of the purchase of an additional 200 shares during the most recent quarter, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now holds a total of 800 shares in the utility service provider. Based on the current market price, these shares are worth $65,000. And finally, during the first quarter of this year, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in American States Water by 250 percent. This brings the total increase in its holdings to 500 percent. US Bancorp DE now has 16,720 of the company, giving it a market cap of $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 11,943 shares during the most recent quarter. This gives the company a total value of $1,488,000. To the tune of 74.09% of the company’s shares, institutional investors and hedge funds hold these shares in their portfolios.
Recent studies on AWR stock have been authored by several experts in the field of equity research, and these studies have been published. Wells Fargo & Company disclosed in a research report published on Wednesday, December 14, that they had increased their target price on American States Water from $90.00 to $96.00. UBS Group published a research note on Wednesday, November 30, announcing that it will start covering American States Water. This news was shared with the public. They suggested a “sell” price of $92.00 and established a price objective for the company’s shares at that level. Last but not least, on October 12, StockNews.com published a research note on American States Water, marking the beginning of the publication website’s company coverage. They advised their clients to “hold” the stock moving forward.
On Friday, each share on the NYSE AWR was $92.55 when trading began. The stock’s moving average over the past 50 days is $93.77, and its moving average over the past 200 days is $87.04. All the financial ratios, including the debt-to-equity and current and quick ratios, equal 0.34. The debt-to-equity ratio, the current ratio, and the quick ratio are all equivalent to one another. Over the past twelve months, a gallon of American States Water has ranged from $71.22 to a high of $103.77. The stock’s price-to-earnings ratio is 42.85, and the stock has a beta value of 0.38. The market capitalization of the company is $3.42 billion.
On November 7, the most recent earnings report for American States Water was made public. This company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol AWR. The earnings per share for the quarter reported by the provider of utilities came in at $0.69, which was $0.01 less than the consensus estimate of $0.70 for the quarter. The 12.47% return on equity and 16.59% net margin that American States Water achieved demonstrate the company’s successful performance. Despite predictions made by analysts stating that the company would bring in $143.00 million in revenue during the quarter, the company was only able to bring in a total of $134.98 million. In 2018, American States Water was anticipated to generate earnings of $2.51 per share, which is in line with the projections of the vast majority of industry analysts.
In addition, the company just recently announced and paid out a quarterly dividend, which was paid out on December 1. This dividend was distributed. On Tuesday, November 15, dividend payments to shareholders who had already recorded them were distributed. The amount of each dividend payment was $0.3975 per share. The dividend distribution occurred on November 14, when the payment was made. This equates to an annual dividend payment of 1.59 dollars and a dividend yield of 1.72 percent for the stock. At this time, American States Water has a dividend payout ratio (DPR) equal to 73.61%.
Source: news.google.com
