Waverly Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Waverly Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,752 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in American Water Works were worth $9,254,000 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 company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,125,598,000 after acquiring an additional 217,582 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $579,981,000 after acquiring an additional 106,857 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,357,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $418,003,000 after acquiring an additional 335,683 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $395,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of American Water Works from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.2%

AWK traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $143.62. The stock had a trading volume of 740,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,192. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $28.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.23. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.74 and a twelve month high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.8275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This is a boost 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 2.30%. American Water Works's payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

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.