Inceptionr LLC Invests $1.79 Million in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 14,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Water Works by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,682,280,000 after purchasing an additional 214,082 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,163,000 after purchasing an additional 43,754 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in American Water Works by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,258 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in American Water Works by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,153,212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $143,563,000 after purchasing an additional 33,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.57.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.0 %

AWK stock opened at $137.83 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.87 billion, a PE ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.77%.

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.