Boston Family Office LLC Acquires 1,131 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Boston Family Office LLC raised its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,131 shares during the quarter. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $277,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,123,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,783,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $146.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $28.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $133.95 and a 200-day moving average of $134.30. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $152.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced 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. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

About American Water Works

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.