Dudley & Shanley Inc. Purchases 4,146 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Dudley & Shanley Inc. increased its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 166,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,146 shares during the period. American Water Works comprises about 3.4% of Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $20,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in American Water Works by 1.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,974,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $368,336,000 after purchasing an additional 32,975 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in American Water Works by 4.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,624,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,038,000 after purchasing an additional 118,221 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 1.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $261,949,000 after purchasing an additional 25,887 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $275,476,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com downgraded 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.33.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.96. 402,683 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,367,180. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.39 and its 200-day moving average is $125.45. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $151.22. The stock has a market cap of $24.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

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.