First Affirmative Financial Network Has $736,000 Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

First Affirmative Financial Network lessened its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its position in American Water Works by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 37,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,522,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 400.5% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 11,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,731,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in American Water Works by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 3,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 593 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 91.3% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 101,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,883,000 after purchasing an additional 48,570 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $138.86 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.