DNB Asset Management AS Increases Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $5,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 1.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,949,000 after purchasing an additional 25,887 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,320,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,232,000 after acquiring an additional 86,234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.17.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AWK opened at $143.60 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $134.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.72. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $149.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $27.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. American Water Works’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. American Water Works’s dividend 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.