Tranquility Partners LLC Makes New Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Tranquility Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after acquiring an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in American Water Works by 945.5% in 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 worth $238,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,320,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $174,232,000 after purchasing an additional 86,234 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock traded up $0.40 on Friday, reaching $140.42. The stock had a trading volume of 521,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,252,906. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $149.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $137.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $27.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released 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). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be given a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

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.