Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Makes New $253,000 Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,125,598,000 after acquiring an additional 217,582 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $579,981,000 after acquiring an additional 106,857 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in American Water Works by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in American Water Works by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,357,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $418,003,000 after acquiring an additional 335,683 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $395,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AWK shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut shares of American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.22.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $134.29. 1,994,406 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,209,825. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month 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. The company has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average price is $144.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.94.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be 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 is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. American Water Works's payout ratio is presently 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.