U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 174.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,005 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,535 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $294,524,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,695,734 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $335,592,000 after buying an additional 747,316 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 20,534.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 615,306 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $90,770,000 after buying an additional 612,324 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,142,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $391,205,000 after buying an additional 414,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 980,596 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $122,074,000 after buying an additional 351,533 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AWK. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. 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 target on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on American Water Works from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.67.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.3%

AWK traded down $0.45 on Friday, hitting $142.23. The company had a trading volume of 948,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,238,561. The company has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $155.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $141.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.10.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This is an increase from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. American Water Works's payout ratio is currently 60.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In related news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of American Water Works 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares of the company's stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company's stock.

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.