Csenge Advisory Group Sells 282 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Csenge Advisory Group decreased its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 282 shares during the quarter. Csenge Advisory Group’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 110.8% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.80.

American Water Works Stock Up 3.4 %

NYSE:AWK traded up $4.43 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $136.66. 692,302 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,343,049. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.43. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $151.22. The company has a market cap of $26.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. American Water Works’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.07%.

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.