BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Has $87.17 Million Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. reduced its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 713,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 84,072 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $87,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Duality Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after buying an additional 31,203 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 945.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,441,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 94,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,539,000 after purchasing an additional 9,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $974,000. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group increased their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com lowered 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 given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.80.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK traded up $3.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $142.58. 1,190,631 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,336,132. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $151.22. The stock has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.17 and its 200 day moving average is $125.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.