Magellan Asset Management Ltd Acquires 19,149 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 168,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,149 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $23,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LGT Capital Partners LTD. acquired a new position in American Water Works in the third quarter valued at about $2,614,000. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 5,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 2,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 122,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173 shares during the period. Finally, Avalon Trust Co boosted its stake in American Water Works by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 148,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,675 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $149.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $134.00 to $122.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $114.00 to $124.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.89.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $133.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.77. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.28 and a 12 month high of $155.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 21.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research 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 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.17%.

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.