Toronto Dominion Bank Trims Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Toronto Dominion Bank reduced its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 40.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 48,668 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $8,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in 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 worth $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in American Water Works in the first quarter worth $108,688,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth $92,838,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after acquiring an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.80.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE AWK traded up $1.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $141.71. 645,036 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 796,334. The firm has a market cap of $27.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $151.22.

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

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is an increase 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 is 62.07%.

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.