Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC Invests $753,000 in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $753,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 631.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 445,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $65,192,000 after purchasing an additional 384,836 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 83,960 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,278,000 after buying an additional 4,092 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 14,944.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 537,987 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $786,750,000 after buying an additional 534,411 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,518 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,293,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 10.8% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 3,219 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Water Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised American Water Works to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AWK traded down $2.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $137.66. 589,102 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,196,921. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The business's fifty day moving average is $143.18 and its 200 day moving average is $135.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% 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.