St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Increases Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Diversified LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 2,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Presima Securities ULC raised its stake in American Water Works by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 5,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $129.51 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $151.22. The stock has a market cap of $25.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. American Water Works’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were issued a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 62.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.33.

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.