M&T Bank Corp Purchases 139,537 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 267.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 191,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 139,537 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $25,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 71.7% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting American Water Works

Here are the key news stories impacting American Water Works this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Kentucky Public Service Commission granted the first formal regulatory approval for American Water’s proposed merger with Essential Utilities, advancing the deal timeline and reducing one source of execution risk. This is the most important near-term positive fundamental development for AWK. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend outlook and long-term yield profile remain attractive to income investors — coverage pieces highlight AWK’s long dividend growth record, supporting buy-and-hold interest. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Truist initiated coverage with a “hold” rating and a $137 price target — the note establishes a benchmark for investors but does not signal strong conviction to buy; the target implies only modest upside from current levels. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple Earth Day and community/ESG announcements (water conservation tips, grants totaling ~$1.5M) reinforce the company’s environmental and community positioning but are routine PR items unlikely to materially change near-term valuation. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory path is still incomplete — the Kentucky PSC sign-off is only the first approval; remaining state and federal reviews could delay or change transaction terms, keeping deal risk elevated. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent operational/earnings context (Feb quarter EPS slightly missed estimates and guidance is conservative) keeps some investors cautious about near-term multiple expansion despite the merger news. (See company recent results and guidance in filings/earnings release.)

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $137.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Bank of America upgraded American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of AWK stock opened at $131.02 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $135.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.98. The company has a market cap of $25.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.74. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.28 and a fifty-two week high of $150.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.46.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.61% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Equities analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.