Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) Director Andrew Cohn Purchases 18,305 Shares of Stock

Global Water Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:GWRS) Director Andrew Cohn bought 18,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $7.20 per share, for a total transaction of $131,796.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 2,560,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,439,084.80. This represents a 0.72% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Global Water Resources Price Performance

GWRS stock opened at $7.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.67 million, a PE ratio of 73.61 and a beta of 0.96. Global Water Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.12 and a 1 year high of $11.39.

Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $13.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.73 million. Global Water Resources had a return on equity of 4.73% and a net margin of 5.30%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Global Water Resources, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Water Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.0253 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Global Water Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 300.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Water Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GWRS. TSP Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Water Resources by 134.9% during the fourth quarter. TSP Capital Management Group LLC now owns 757,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,403,000 after buying an additional 435,129 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Water Resources by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 686,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,801,000 after buying an additional 236,500 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Global Water Resources by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,675,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,068,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Global Water Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $609,000. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in Global Water Resources by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 177,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after acquiring an additional 48,739 shares during the period. 27.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Global Water Resources from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Roth Mkm set a $15.00 price objective on Global Water Resources in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Freedom Capital downgraded Global Water Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $15.00.

Global Water Resources Company Profile

Global Water Resources, Inc (NASDAQ:GWRS) is a publicly traded holding company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, specializing in the ownership and management of water and wastewater utilities. The company provides critical potable water delivery, wastewater collection and treatment, and reclaimed water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers across select communities in Central and Southern Arizona.

The company operates multiple regulated utility systems, serving communities such as Anthem, Biltmore, Florence and San Tan Valley.