BCS Wealth Management Buys Shares of 1,464 American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

BCS Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in American Water Works during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in American Water Works in the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in American Water Works by 260.2% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

Insider Activity

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.2 %

AWK opened at $140.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $143.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.5 million active customers. The company serves residential customers; commercial customers, including food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers; fire service and private fire customers; industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining, and production operations; public authorities comprising government buildings and other public sector facilities, such as schools and universities; and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems.