American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 16.6% from the May 31st total of 3,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.6 %

American Water Works stock opened at $128.51 on Wednesday. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $151.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.48.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. 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%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AWK. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the first quarter valued at approximately $108,688,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,838,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About American Water Works

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.