American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Legend Financial Advisors Inc.

Legend Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 50.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,974,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $368,336,000 after buying an additional 32,975 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in American Water Works by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,624,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,038,000 after purchasing an additional 118,221 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,117,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $279,495,000 after purchasing an additional 117,170 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $275,476,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in American Water Works by 945.5% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $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 and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWK. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.33.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $129.16. 1,201,891 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,044,457. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.59. The company has a market capitalization of $25.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.67. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $151.22.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.