Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Sells 8,248 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lessened its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 272,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,248 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. owned 0.14% of American Water Works worth $35,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Water Works during the second quarter worth $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.33.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.1 %

AWK stock opened at $149.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.51. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $150.68. The company has a market capitalization of $29.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released 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). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.