St. Clair Advisors LLC Takes Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

St. Clair Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Barclays PLC raised its position in American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 376,348 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $55,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,560 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth about $419,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its position in American Water Works by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 13,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,673,000 after acquiring an additional 1,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in American Water Works by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 768 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company's stock.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.2%

AWK stock traded down $1.70 on Thursday, hitting $141.78. 1,163,361 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,219,358. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.74 and a twelve month high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The business's fifty day moving average is $144.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $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, research analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. This is a boost from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio is 60.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut shares of American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research 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, American Water Works has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Company 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.