Retirement Guys Formula LLC Buys New Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Retirement Guys Formula LLC bought a new stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 79.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Water Works currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.33.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE AWK traded down $0.50 on Thursday, reaching $127.96. The company had a trading volume of 402,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 909,982. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.67. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $151.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.52 and a 200-day moving average of $125.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

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.