Waverton Investment Management Ltd Has $35.39 Million Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 274,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,643 shares during the quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $35,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Water Works by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,949,000 after buying an additional 25,887 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in American Water Works by 945.5% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC raised its holdings in American Water Works by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,588,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,120,000 after acquiring an additional 32,764 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $144.42 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $149.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $139.58 and its 200-day moving average is $129.55. The firm has a market cap of $28.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.