American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 49.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,870 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in American Water Works by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 6,902,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,422,000 after buying an additional 247,745 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,245,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,354,000 after buying an additional 143,914 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,588,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,120,000 after buying an additional 32,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,177,000 after buying an additional 1,453,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho downgraded American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $138.11 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $142.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.11.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.