Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. decreased its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 17.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 329 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AWK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $294,524,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,695,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,592,000 after acquiring an additional 747,316 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 20,534.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 615,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,770,000 after acquiring an additional 612,324 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:AWK opened at $141.26 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $118.74 and a one year 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.71.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AWK shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 lowered shares of 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 set an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,916.16. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.