American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,138 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in American Water Works by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,268,000 after buying an additional 30,316 shares during the period. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 33.1% in the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 78,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,996,000 after buying an additional 19,512 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 53.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,960,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,635,157,000 after buying an additional 434,737 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.9% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AWK. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.4 %

AWK opened at $115.40 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $152.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $119.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.18. The company has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.63.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.