Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Purchases 7,961 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,862 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 7,961 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in American Water Works were worth $8,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 2.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 124,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,344,000 after acquiring an additional 2,570 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 45.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 21.5% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 40,625 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,235 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AWK traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $142.23. 948,450 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,238,561. The stock has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $141.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 22.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on American Water Works from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In related news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,084,916.16. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

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.