Park Avenue Securities LLC Acquires 250 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 153.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised 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 buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,441,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $143.81. 797,400 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,294,266. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $134.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.72. The stock has a market cap of $28.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $149.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

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.