American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) CAO Melissa K. Wikle Sells 2,825 Shares

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,084,916.16. This represents a 27.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of AWK traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $140.04. The company had a trading volume of 719,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,221,659. The stock has a market cap of $27.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.71. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This is a positive change from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. American Water Works's payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its stake in American Water Works by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 2,795 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in American Water Works by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,607 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $908,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AWK. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.22.

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.