Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Trims Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC decreased its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 23.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 124 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $49,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% during 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. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $44,441,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 94,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,539,000 after acquiring an additional 9,005 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $974,000. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Humankind Investments LLC now owns 8,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AWK opened at $128.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.48. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $151.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.67.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AWK. UBS Group increased their price target on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.33.

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.