Machina Capital S.A.S. Sells 752 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 752 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 36,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,561,000 after acquiring an additional 4,909 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 43,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,422,000 after acquiring an additional 12,433 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,624,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,154,000 after acquiring an additional 137,006 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 29,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK traded up $1.50 on Monday, hitting $130.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,314,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,494,950. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $151.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.40%.

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.