Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 11,693 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,493 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,693 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in American Water Works were worth $7,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,424 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in American Water Works by 31.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.3% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 32,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,768,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised American Water Works from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $140.57.

American Water Works Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK traded down $5.80 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $143.51. 1,772,144 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,436,136. The company has a market capitalization of $27.98 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $152.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $127.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.40.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.