SFE Investment Counsel Sells 7,397 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

SFE Investment Counsel lowered its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 37,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,397 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $4,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 383.0% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 2,058,656 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,386,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $311,487,000 after acquiring an additional 657,849 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,227,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,650,543,000 after acquiring an additional 597,916 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 81.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,043,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,217,000 after acquiring an additional 469,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,769,000. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. Barclays increased their target price on American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial began coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $137.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.11.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE AWK opened at $127.33 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.28 and a 12 month high of $147.87. The stock has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $134.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.09). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.895 dividend. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 63.48%.

American Water Works Company 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.