LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $2.05 Million Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 144.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,703 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,248,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,724,624,000 after purchasing an additional 141,038 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,532,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $668,566,000 after purchasing an additional 878,951 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 881.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,704,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $546,562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,352 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,479,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $513,282,000 after purchasing an additional 121,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in American Water Works by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,134,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $314,861,000 after buying an additional 295,928 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AWK. Mizuho lifted their price target on American Water Works from $148.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Argus lifted their price target on American Water Works from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $141.13.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK opened at $137.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.15.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 59.64%.

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.