Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $3.73 Million Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lessened its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,418 shares during the period. American Water Works comprises approximately 0.8% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $3,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 7,752.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,803,000 after acquiring an additional 477,235 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 12,606.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 463,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,320,000 after acquiring an additional 460,262 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 174.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 518,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,218,000 after acquiring an additional 329,469 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 7,062.8% during the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 318,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,417,000 after acquiring an additional 313,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1,173.5% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 336,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,687,000 after acquiring an additional 310,214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock traded down $1.08 on Thursday, reaching $124.04. The stock had a trading volume of 666,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,469,122. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $119.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.62. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $151.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.87%.

American Water Works Profile

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.