Impax Asset Management Group plc Acquires 657,849 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Key Points

• Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) by 38.0%
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus "Hold" and a $141.20 target; recent actions include Bank of America upgrading to Neutral (PT $139) while Wall Street Zen cut the stock to a "strong sell" and Barclays remains underweight.
• American Water recently missed quarterly estimates (EPS $1.24 vs. $1.28; revenue $1.27B vs. $1.29B), provided FY2026 guidance of EPS 6.020–6.120 (analysts ~6.09), and trades near $132.59 with a P/E of 23.3 and $25.9B market cap.

Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 38.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,386,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 657,849 shares during the period. American Water Works makes up about 1.9% of Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 1.22% of American Water Works worth $311,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 64,064 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,901 shares in the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. now owns 15,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC now owns 2,961 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 72,796 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,500,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised American Water Works from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 price objective on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded American Water Works from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.20.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $132.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.44. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.28 and a fifty-two week high of $150.51. The stock's 50-day moving average is $135.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.95. The firm has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.74.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 21.61%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Company 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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