American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Bought by Retirement Guys Formula LLC

Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 54.2% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,572 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,916.16. This trade represents a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lowered shares of American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $144.02 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.12. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $155.50. The stock has a market cap of $28.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.71.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 22.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.8275 dividend. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 60.29%.

American Water Works Company 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.