American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Stake Reduced by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI reduced its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 37.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,751 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in American Water Works by 945.5% during 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 buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in American Water Works during the first quarter valued at about $108,688,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,838,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of AWK traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $140.76. 443,145 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,259,258. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $149.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $27.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

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

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.17.

American Water Works Company 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.