Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 87,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,725 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $10,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,180,000 after buying an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4,227.0% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 695,474 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $71,120,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 268.0% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,868,000 after purchasing an additional 391,166 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $146.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $152.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $133.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

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

American Water Works 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.