Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Purchases 7,847 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,847 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $8,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 350,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,782,000 after acquiring an additional 44,336 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 85,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,967,000 after acquiring an additional 4,553 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,219,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,729,000 after acquiring an additional 47,977 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 489,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,863,000 after acquiring an additional 47,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 56.6% in the 3rd quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 33,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,664,000 after acquiring an additional 12,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $137.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $149.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.11.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $127.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $131.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.28 and a 12 month high of $147.87.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.American Water Works’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.895 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 58.69%.

American Water Works Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.