American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Acquired by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 306,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,125 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned about 0.16% of American Water Works worth $38,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AWK. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 1,131.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,313,000 after buying an additional 1,321,320 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 4,227.0% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 695,474 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 14,944.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 537,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,750,000 after buying an additional 534,411 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 268.0% in the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,868,000 after buying an additional 391,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 631.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 445,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,192,000 after buying an additional 384,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $123.58 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.17. The company has a market cap of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.72.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.38.

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.