US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK – Free Report) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,485 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $7,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversified LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 2,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp increased its position in American Water Works by 0.5% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 20,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,590,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 110.8% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at American Water Works
In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.33.
Get Our Latest Analysis on AWK
American Water Works Trading Down 1.6 %
Shares of NYSE:AWK traded down $1.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $126.24. 1,164,627 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,449,337. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $124.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.78. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $151.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79.
American Water Works (NYSE:AWK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. American Water Works’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.
American Water Works Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.07%.
American Water Works Profile
American Water Works Company, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.5 million active customers. The company serves residential customers; commercial customers, including food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers; fire service and private fire customers; industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining, and production operations; public authorities comprising government buildings and other public sector facilities, such as schools and universities; and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems.
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