HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 570,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,382 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $74,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $872,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 16,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,429,000 after purchasing an additional 4,762 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $302,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 5,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 184.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 5,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 3,561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on American Water Works from $149.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial started coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set a “hold” rating and a $137.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.11.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.4%

American Water Works stock opened at $122.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.64. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.28 and a 12-month high of $147.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.American Water Works’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.895 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 63.48%.

American Water Works Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.