Teacher Retirement System of Texas Lowers Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 13.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,061 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in American Water Works were worth $3,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works during the second quarter worth about $344,645,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,442,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $478,817,000 after buying an additional 494,868 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 928.1% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 531,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,904,000 after buying an additional 479,586 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 81.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,043,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $145,217,000 after buying an additional 469,641 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,629,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,565,269,000 after buying an additional 380,870 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock opened at $127.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $130.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.17. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $121.39 and a one year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.42.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 21.93%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a $0.8275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group set a $149.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $134.00 to $122.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 note on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.89.

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.