Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 3,645 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,645 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $3,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 102,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,024,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,677,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 122,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,981,000 after buying an additional 18,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $137.83 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $126.60 and a 200 day moving average of $134.37. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. As a group, research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 56.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AWK. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.57.

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.