American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $73.48 and traded as high as $74.15. American States Water shares last traded at $73.5050, with a volume of 309,599 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American States Water in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

American States Water Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $73.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.06. American States Water had a net margin of 19.82% and a return on equity of 13.10%. The company had revenue of $164.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.82 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American States Water Company will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.504 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American States Water’s payout ratio is presently 59.94%.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 128.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,347,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,648,000 after acquiring an additional 758,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,846,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in American States Water by 55.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 720,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,847,000 after purchasing an additional 258,388 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in American States Water by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 738,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,495,000 after purchasing an additional 164,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in American States Water by 512.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 187,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,780,000 after purchasing an additional 157,276 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American States Water Company Profile

American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR), founded in 1929 and headquartered in San Dimas, California, is a publicly traded utility holding company. The company operates primarily through two regulated segments—water and electric utilities—and provides non-regulated water system services. Over its history, American States Water has expanded its footprint through strategic acquisitions and organic growth, positioning itself as a reliable provider of essential services in its core territories.

Within its regulated water utility segment, American States Water serves more than 250,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across 35 communities in six counties of California.