Legal & General Group Plc Has $383.91 Million Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,083,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 275,743 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.58% of American Water Works worth $383,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,125,598,000 after buying an additional 217,582 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,981,000 after acquiring an additional 106,857 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 477,411 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,142,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $391,205,000 after purchasing an additional 414,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK opened at $142.20 on Tuesday. 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 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $155.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $135.80 and a 200-day moving average of $134.23. The stock has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68.

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