GWN Securities Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,357 American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 65.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after acquiring an additional 42,094 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $144.86 on Tuesday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $152.07. The stock has a market cap of $28.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. On average, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About American Water Works

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.