First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $461,000 Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 7.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 271,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,786,000 after buying an additional 43,406 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 11.2% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 28.2% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,287,000 after buying an additional 4,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.6% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $141.96 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $143.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 2.16%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. 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 company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

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.