American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Holdings Decreased by Bayesian Capital Management LP

Bayesian Capital Management LP reduced its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 22.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,800 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 8,266 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after buying an additional 31,203 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,633,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,441,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWK. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.80.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK traded up $1.84 on Tuesday, reaching $143.20. 410,860 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,298,791. The firm has a market cap of $27.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.67. 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 $148.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $132.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.09.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 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.