American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Purchased by W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. increased its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 7,752.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,803,000 after buying an additional 477,235 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 12,606.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 463,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,320,000 after purchasing an additional 460,262 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 7,062.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 318,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,417,000 after purchasing an additional 313,872 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 310,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 741.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,405,000 after buying an additional 280,402 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AWK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price target for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK traded up $2.80 on Friday, hitting $128.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,735,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,694,021. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $25.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $151.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $119.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.42.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.40%.

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.