American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Acquired by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,162 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd owned about 0.05% of American Water Works worth $12,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 4.2% during the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,424 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in American Water Works by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 2,790 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 3.4% in the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 31.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.31. 1,036,036 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,011,920. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $129.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.07. The company has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.71.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AWK shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lowered American Water Works from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised American Water Works from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

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.