American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Bought by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 337,306 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 12,440 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.17% of American Water Works worth $48,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 54.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total value of $404,766.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,084,916.16. This represents a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on 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. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.67.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $142.23. 948,450 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,238,561. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.24% and a return on equity of 10.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This is a positive change from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. 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.