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

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in American Water Works by 153.8% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 8,266 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 202.2% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after buying an additional 31,203 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in American Water Works by 945.5% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,441,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

American Water Works Stock Up 0.1 %

AWK stock opened at $147.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.44. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $149.00. The company has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.17.

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.