Sentry Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 109 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $1,557,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $115.40 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $119.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.18. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $152.99. The company has a market cap of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI downgraded American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

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.