American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 319,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,627 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $41,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sandro Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $1,169,000. Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 99.2% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 4,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $7,761,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 6,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $137.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America raised shares of American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.44.

Key Stories Impacting American Water Works

Here are the key news stories impacting American Water Works this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated multi-year growth targets and is targeting ~8% EPS growth for 2026; management expects the Essential merger to close by the end of Q1 2027, which could expand scale and regulated rate base over time. MSN: Essential merger & 8% EPS growth
• Positive Sentiment: Company described an H2-weighted growth path on the Q1 call and emphasized acquisitions, new rates and pending deals as drivers of customer and revenue growth — supports medium?term earnings trajectory. TipRanks: H2-weighted growth
• Positive Sentiment: Industry/regulatory backdrop: Pennsylvania American Water highlighted a new AWWA report stressing the need for long?term U.S. water infrastructure investment — a favorable narrative for regulated utilities that seek rate recovery for capital programs. PR Newswire: Infrastructure needs
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 earnings materials and transcripts are available for investors to review for details on guidance, rate cases and capex; slides/presentation provide management’s detail on throughput and cash flow timing. Seeking Alpha: Q1 presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/value comparison: Zacks ran a peer-value piece comparing AWK to California Water Service (CWT) for investors evaluating trade-offs in the water-utility space. Zacks: CWT vs AWK
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate/PR items: American Water is marking Drinking Water Week and announcing charitable grants — positive for community relations but unlikely to move the stock materially. PR Newswire: Drinking Water Week
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 results: EPS came in at $1.01, below consensus (~$1.10), which is the primary near?term catalyst weighing on the stock despite revenue growth to $1.21B. The miss is the likely driver of the intraday downward move as investors re?price short?term expectations. Zacks: Q1 EPS miss

American Water Works Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE AWK opened at $127.43 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $121.28 and a one year high of $150.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $135.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $132.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.64.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.895 per share. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 58.69%.

American Water Works Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.