Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Increases Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 44.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,559 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 11,484 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY's holdings in American Water Works were worth $5,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 23.2% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the first quarter valued at $76,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in American Water Works by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 86,782 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,802,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,127 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,854,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 10,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,477,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,916.16. This trade represents a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AWK shares. UBS Group downgraded American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.22.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of AWK traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $139.91. The stock had a trading volume of 683,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,233,173. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.58. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.74 and a 1-year high of $155.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $27.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released 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 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 firm earned $0.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This is an increase from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. American Water Works's dividend 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.