Cornerstone Advisors LLC Sells 5,200 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,200 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.7% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 6,902,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,422,000 after purchasing an additional 247,745 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,949,000 after purchasing an additional 25,887 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $275,476,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.60.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $149.09 on Tuesday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $149.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $29.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $142.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.05.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 62.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.