Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) Trading Up 3.8% – Still a Buy?

Aris Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ARIS)’s stock price was up 3.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $30.18 and last traded at $30.08. Approximately 346,507 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 492,751 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ARIS. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $21.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price target (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Aris Water Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Aris Water Solutions from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Aris Water Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aris Water Solutions currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Aris Water Solutions Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.14 and a beta of 1.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.33.

Aris Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is a boost from Aris Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Aris Water Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Aris Water Solutions news, CAO Jeffrey K. Hunt sold 10,000 shares of Aris Water Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.92, for a total value of $289,200.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,396.84. The trade was a 18.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Yorktown Energy Partners Xi, L sold 1,000,000 shares of Aris Water Solutions 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 sold 1,910,142 shares of company stock worth $50,977,332 over the last three months. 23.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aris Water Solutions

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARIS. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Aris Water Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Aris Water Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Aris Water Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Aris Water Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Aris Water Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. 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.