American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Acquired by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 13.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after acquiring an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 8,266 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after purchasing an additional 31,203 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after buying an additional 5,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 20.0% during the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 163,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,943,000 after buying an additional 27,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.5 %

American Water Works stock opened at $137.66 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $143.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.82. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. 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 (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

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.