National Pension Service Buys 2,185 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

National Pension Service grew its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 0.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 244,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $33,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in American Water Works by 881.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,704,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $546,562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,352 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in American Water Works by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,532,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $668,566,000 after purchasing an additional 878,951 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,505,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,296,000 after buying an additional 802,639 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 1st quarter worth $103,053,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2,486.6% during the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 571,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,246,000 after buying an additional 549,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:AWK opened at $131.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.72. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $118.74 and a 52 week high of $155.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.66 and a 200 day moving average of $140.41.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 21.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AWK. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $114.00 to $124.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Cowen initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on American Water Works from $128.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.00.

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.