Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 529 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.4% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 11,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.3% during the first quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 44,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,607,000 after acquiring an additional 3,065 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.6% during the first quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 65,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,592,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Finally, First National Corp MA ADV raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 82.0% during the first quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 16,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,431,000 after acquiring an additional 7,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.22.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $141.24 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.74. The company has a market cap of $27.54 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,916.16. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.