Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Boosts Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 95.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,277 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in American Water Works by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,624,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $695,850,000 after purchasing an additional 129,005 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in American Water Works by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,591,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $444,790,000 after purchasing an additional 124,815 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in American Water Works by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,974,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $368,336,000 after purchasing an additional 32,975 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in American Water Works by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,831,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $350,640,000 after purchasing an additional 267,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in American Water Works by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,624,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,038,000 after purchasing an additional 118,221 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Water Works Trading Up 2.3 %

AWK opened at $125.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $151.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $119.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.27.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 57.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

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.