Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,424 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 218,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,424 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of American Water Works worth $28,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in American Water Works by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,949,000 after purchasing an additional 25,887 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,320,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,232,000 after purchasing an additional 86,234 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK stock opened at $143.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $149.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $138.48 and a 200 day moving average of $129.07. The company has a market cap of $27.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.03, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.26 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

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.