American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Position Lifted by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 71.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,900 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $2,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth about $2,712,173,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Water Works by 35.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,911,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,962,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883,057 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth $1,171,477,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 4.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,081,000 after buying an additional 179,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth $443,787,000. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Latest American Water Works News

Here’s some of the latest news about AWK:

• Neutral Sentiment: Tennessee American Water applied additional PFAS settlement proceeds as customer bill credits, bringing total credits to more than $84 per customer. The settlement reflects proceeds from manufacturers, but distributing the funds to customers is not an evident near-term earnings catalyst. Tennessee PFAS settlement credit
• Neutral Sentiment: West Virginia American Water announced a $165,000 infrastructure upgrade, while Virginia and Maryland subsidiaries shared water-service tips. These local operating updates are small or informational and are unlikely to move the parent company’s stock materially. West Virginia infrastructure project Virginia water-service tips Maryland water-service tips
• Neutral Sentiment: Foundation grants for STEM education and student footwear are community-benefit initiatives, but are not expected to have a meaningful near-term effect on AWK’s financial results. Putnam Museum grant Clinton student grant

American Water Works Trading Down 0.6%

AWK opened at $149.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $137.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.15. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $120.57 and a one year high of $153.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.39.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 10.14%. American Water Works’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.8950 per share. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWK. Barclays cut their target price on shares of American Water Works from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $153.00 to $162.00 in a report on Friday, November 6th. Argus raised their price objective on American Water Works from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Huntington cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.12.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc. is a U.S. water and wastewater utility that provides services to residential, commercial, industrial, and public-sector customers. Its operations include treating and distributing drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and maintaining the infrastructure needed to deliver those services. The company operates regulated water and wastewater utilities across multiple states, serving communities in regions including the Northeast, Midwest, and South. Through contracted operations, it also provides water and wastewater services to certain military installations and municipal customers.