Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $936,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Invesco LLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 31.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 0.3% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 32,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,768,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.57.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $134.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $125.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68. The firm has a market cap of $26.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72.

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

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.77%.

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.