Voleon Capital Management LP Purchases New Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,125,598,000 after purchasing an additional 217,582 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,981,000 after buying an additional 106,857 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,687,000 after buying an additional 477,411 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,357,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,003,000 after acquiring an additional 335,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,180,000 after buying an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.3 %

AWK stock opened at $146.52 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $143.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.77. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $28.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group cut American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.00.

American Water Works Company 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.