American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 39.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 149,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 96,076 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $20,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in American Water Works during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,712,173,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 35.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,911,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,962,116,000 after buying an additional 3,883,057 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in American Water Works during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,171,477,000. Amundi increased its holdings in American Water Works by 4.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,081,000 after buying an additional 179,127 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the 2nd quarter worth $443,787,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $153.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Huntington cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.14.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $150.42 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $136.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.87. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $120.57 and a 52 week high of $153.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.04 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.14% and a net margin of 21.26%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a $0.8950 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.05%.

American Water Works Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc is a U.S. water and wastewater utility that provides services to residential, commercial, industrial, and public-sector customers. Its operations include treating and distributing drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and maintaining the infrastructure needed to deliver those services.

The company operates regulated water and wastewater utilities across multiple states, serving communities in regions including the Northeast, Midwest, and South.