American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Position Increased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 522,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $65,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Assetmark Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.6% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 26,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the third quarter valued at $51,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 433,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,401,000 after acquiring an additional 9,427 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.4% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK stock opened at $140.84 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.46. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $152.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. StockNews.com raised shares of American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.57.

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.