American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $90,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after purchasing an additional 214,082 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $665,163,000 after purchasing an additional 43,754 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1,131.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,313,000 after buying an additional 1,321,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,120,062 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,798,000 after buying an additional 18,586 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.57.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK opened at $134.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $125.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.52. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $150.68. The firm has a market cap of $26.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

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

American Water Works 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.