BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Purchases New Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 6,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 757,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,324,000 after buying an additional 14,808 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 980,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,074,000 after acquiring an additional 351,533 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 63.0% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 24,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,222,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,056,000 after purchasing an additional 324,350 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays started coverage on American Water Works in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.38.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $147.23 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.45. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $118.15 and a 12 month high of $155.50. The company has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

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.