Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK – Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in American Water Works by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in American Water Works by 65.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,557,000 after purchasing an additional 42,094 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $1,783,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 0.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 969,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,889 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.38.
American Water Works Trading Down 0.0 %
Shares of AWK stock opened at $125.06 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $125.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.55. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68.
American Water Works Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 60.59%.
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.
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