Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Acquires 294 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AWK. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in American Water Works by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 11,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,000 after buying an additional 3,870 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in American Water Works in the 3rd quarter worth about $506,000. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 33.4% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 257,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,195,000 after acquiring an additional 64,489 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.4% during the third quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 43,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.8% in the third quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE AWK opened at $136.00 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $150.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $142.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $26.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.70.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.84% and a net margin of 21.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

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.