Private Advisor Group LLC Lowers Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,276 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $3,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.17.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $147.04 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $149.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.32. The stock has a market cap of $28.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.