American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Acquired by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,547 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $6,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 1.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 376,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,560 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $232,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $1,465,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $2,638,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on 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. Barclays began coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group cut American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of AWK stock opened at $142.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $144.26 and a 200 day moving average of $134.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $27.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.74 and a twelve month high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.8275 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 2.32%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 60.29%.

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.