American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Stock Position Raised by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 631.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 445,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 384,836 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.23% of American Water Works worth $65,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 260.2% during the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.6 %

American Water Works stock opened at $139.80 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $143.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $27.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64.

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

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.07%.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

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