Ieq Capital LLC Sells 4,971 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Ieq Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 55.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,971 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,248,000 after buying an additional 3,148 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in American Water Works by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 22,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 1,535 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in American Water Works by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 257,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,195,000 after buying an additional 64,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works during the 3rd quarter valued at about $506,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AWK shares. UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.57.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE AWK opened at $135.01 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $150.68. The stock has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $125.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend 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.