Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Buys 13,439 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 14,450.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,439 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC's holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 260.2% during the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 389 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AWK shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of 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 research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of American Water Works stock traded down $2.14 on Friday, hitting $137.66. The company had a trading volume of 592,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,196,921. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $143.12 and a 200-day moving average of $135.70.

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

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works's payout ratio is 62.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.