Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Boosts Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 34.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in American Water Works by 7,752.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,803,000 after buying an additional 477,235 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 12,606.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 463,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,320,000 after buying an additional 460,262 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in American Water Works by 174.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 518,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,218,000 after buying an additional 329,469 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 7,062.8% during the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 318,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,417,000 after buying an additional 313,872 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 1,173.5% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 336,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,687,000 after buying an additional 310,214 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $120.78 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $151.24. The company has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AWK shares. Evercore ISI lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Company 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.