13,950 Shares in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Acquired by Seven Eight Capital LP

Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,705,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.80.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK traded down $1.31 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $140.49. 566,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,318,032. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $151.22. The company has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.07%.

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.