American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Stake Boosted by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned 0.20% of American Water Works worth $53,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the second quarter worth $28,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in American Water Works in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 8,566.7% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AWK shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $114.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Cowen began coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $142.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.00.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of AWK stock opened at $129.77 on Thursday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $137.10 and its 200-day moving average is $140.56. The stock has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.72.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 21.93%.The company’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 58.17%.

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.