First Merchants Corp Has $1.83 Million Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

First Merchants Corp reduced its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 670 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in American Water Works by 881.1% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in American Water Works by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,532,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $668,566,000 after buying an additional 878,951 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in American Water Works by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,505,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,296,000 after buying an additional 802,639 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in American Water Works in the 1st quarter valued at $103,053,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its holdings in American Water Works by 2,486.6% in the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 571,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,246,000 after buying an additional 549,002 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.0%

AWK opened at $141.09 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.74 and a twelve month high of $155.50. The firm has a market cap of $27.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.70.

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

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.57.

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.