American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Secured Retirement Advisors LLC

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 62.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,211 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC's holdings in American Water Works were worth $384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 1,131.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,313,000 after buying an additional 1,321,320 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in American Water Works by 4,227.0% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 695,474 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 14,944.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 537,987 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $786,750,000 after purchasing an additional 534,411 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 268.0% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,138 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $66,868,000 after purchasing an additional 391,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 631.4% during 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 period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AWK shares. 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 research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Water Works from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK stock traded up $0.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.82. 1,805,704 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,231,284. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The firm has a market cap of $24.91 billion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.72. The company's fifty day moving average price is $124.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.77% and a return on equity of 9.75%. On average, research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.59%.

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.