Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc. Makes New $223,000 Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 624,977 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in American Water Works by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 6,902,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,422,000 after purchasing an additional 247,745 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,949,000 after buying an additional 25,887 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in 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 worth $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares during the period. Finally, Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 2.1% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,588,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,120,000 after buying an additional 32,764 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AWK. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.25.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK opened at $137.39 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $144.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $26.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.07%.

About American Water Works

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.