Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $898,000 in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $898,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter worth approximately $218,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 9.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,658,000 after buying an additional 11,761 shares during the period. Terra Alpha Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.7% during the first quarter. Terra Alpha Investments LLC now owns 10,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,579,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 6.6% during the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 6,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,019,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 765.0% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,205,000 after buying an additional 73,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $140.45 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.71. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $118.74 and a 12 month high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AWK shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group cut shares of American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total value of $404,766.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,916.16. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About American Water Works

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.