American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Position Trimmed by Montanaro Asset Management Ltd

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 138,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,400 shares during the period. American Water Works comprises 3.6% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $17,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $277,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in American Water Works by 65.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,557,000 after acquiring an additional 42,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.4 %

AWK stock opened at $141.04 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $132.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.42. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $152.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $27.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Company Profile

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.