Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Takes $862,000 Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 6,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $862,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in American Water Works in the second quarter worth $2,712,173,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at about $1,171,477,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $925,605,000 after buying an additional 6,882,575 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $337,004,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 383.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,596,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $361,355,000 after buying an additional 2,058,656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial set a $139.00 target price on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price target on American Water Works from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.78.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK stock opened at $139.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $133.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.57 and a 12-month high of $146.29.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 10.20%. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.48 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.895 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.05%.

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.