Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Makes New Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 6,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $774,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AWK. 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 buying an additional 125,128 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $277,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 65.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after buying an additional 42,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $1,783,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.57.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE:AWK opened at $133.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.39. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68. The firm has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.79, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $125.03 and its 200 day moving average is $134.55.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. Research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.77%.

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.