Quilter Plc Sells 15,601 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Quilter Plc lessened its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 187,283 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,601 shares during the period. Quilter Plc owned 0.10% of American Water Works worth $27,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,438 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust co raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 4,986 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,241 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 54.2% in the fourth 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. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in American Water Works by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,112 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AWK shares. Barclays assumed coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $138.43 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.50. The company has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 22.24%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.8275 dividend. This is a positive change from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Water Works news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now directly owns 7,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,084,916.16. This trade represents a 27.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About American Water Works

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.

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