AIA Group Ltd Sells 8,565 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

AIA Group Ltd lowered its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 75.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,565 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $375,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,570,936,000 after purchasing an additional 486,090 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $925,605,000 after buying an additional 6,882,575 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $847,361,000 after buying an additional 2,539,683 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,025,000 after acquiring an additional 33,359 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,171,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $544,420,000 after acquiring an additional 275,511 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of American Water Works from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.60.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $133.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.73, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $127.72 and its 200 day moving average is $130.66. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $120.57 and a 52 week high of $147.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.37.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.895 per share. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 63.48%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.