Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lowered its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 68.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,791 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at $277,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in American Water Works by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in American Water Works by 65.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after buying an additional 42,094 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at $1,783,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.57.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $132.63 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $150.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $124.87 and a 200 day moving average of $134.83. The company has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 22.44%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 56.77%.

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.