Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Trims Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. cut its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AWK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in American Water Works by 5.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,268,000 after acquiring an additional 30,316 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 33.1% in the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 78,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,996,000 after acquiring an additional 19,512 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 53.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,960,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,635,157,000 after buying an additional 434,737 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 21.9% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $115.98 on Tuesday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.25 and a 1 year high of $152.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $119.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.31. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.63.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.04. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AWK. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

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.