Quest Partners LLC Invests $635,000 in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 110.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in American Water Works by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in American Water Works by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AWK. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Evercore ISI cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.33.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE AWK opened at $133.70 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.72. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $151.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.62.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other American Water Works 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 transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Water Works 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.