Raiffeisen Bank International AG Buys New Shares in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 43,523 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,407,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $277,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in American Water Works by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in American Water Works by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 77,492 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,647,000 after acquiring an additional 8,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in American Water Works by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 50,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,337,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AWK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lowered American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock traded up $1.03 on Monday, reaching $143.59. The stock had a trading volume of 956,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,215,932. The stock has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.97.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. American Water Works's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This is an increase from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. American Water Works's payout ratio is 60.29%.

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.