Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden boosted its stake in American Water Works by 72.3% in the first quarter, buying 52,900 more shares to bring its total to 126,115 shares worth about $17.2 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with several large investors also increasing positions; overall, institutions own about 86.58% of the company.
• American Water Works recently posted mixed quarterly results, missing EPS estimates but beating revenue expectations, and it also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.895 per share, implying an annualized yield of 2.6%.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 72.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 52,900 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund owned about 0.06% of American Water Works worth $17,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,570,936,000 after acquiring an additional 486,090 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $925,605,000 after buying an additional 6,882,575 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $847,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $655,025,000 after buying an additional 33,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,171,929 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $544,420,000 after purchasing an additional 275,511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AWK. Barclays lifted their price target on American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of American Water Works from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $139.22.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:AWK opened at $136.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $120.57 and a 52 week high of $147.87. The stock's fifty day moving average is $127.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.61.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.The company's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.895 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. American Water Works's payout ratio is 63.48%.

American Water Works Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc NYSE: AWK is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company's operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.

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