Chapin Davis Inc. Purchases New Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Chapin Davis Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 350.4% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 10,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 8,060 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth about $420,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 18.8% in the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 68.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 10.3% in the second quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $141.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.64. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $149.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.73. The stock has a market cap of $27.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.