Legal & General Group Plc Sells 20,803 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in American Water Works by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 20,803 shares but still holding 3.34 million shares valued at about $435.9 million.
• American Water Works reported Q1 earnings of $1.01 per share, missing analyst expectations, while revenue came in at $1.21 billion, ahead of forecasts and up 5.7% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.895 per share from $0.83, giving it an annualized dividend of $3.58 and a yield of about 2.9%.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,340,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 20,803 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 1.71% of American Water Works worth $435,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in American Water Works by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 350,471 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,782,000 after buying an additional 44,336 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in American Water Works by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,219,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $290,729,000 after buying an additional 47,977 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 85,976 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,967,000 after buying an additional 4,553 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in American Water Works by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 489,371 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $63,863,000 after buying an additional 47,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TSP Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $1,559,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:AWK opened at $125.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.64. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $121.28 and a one year high of $147.87. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $132.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.29.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.895 dividend. This is a positive change from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AWK. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $149.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.56.

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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