Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Invests $41,000 in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,633,389 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $92,838,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 7,752.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,803,000 after purchasing an additional 477,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 12,606.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 463,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $612,320,000 after purchasing an additional 460,262 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $136.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.50. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $151.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AWK. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.80.

American Water Works Company 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.