First Manhattan CO. LLC. Sells 12,265 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 7.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 158,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,265 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $23,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 881.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,704,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $546,562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,352 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 24.1% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,532,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $668,566,000 after purchasing an additional 878,951 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 114.3% in the first quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,505,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,296,000 after purchasing an additional 802,639 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,695,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,592,000 after purchasing an additional 747,316 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the first quarter valued at approximately $103,053,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $143.40 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.04. The company has a market cap of $27.98 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 21.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. Analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Argus upped their target price on American Water Works from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho upped their target price on American Water Works from $148.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $143.30.

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.