American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Stock Acquired by M&G PLC

M&G PLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 927,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,551 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $119,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vestor Capital LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 17,601.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 712,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,223,000 after buying an additional 708,291 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its position in American Water Works by 103.0% during the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 6,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 3,114 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in American Water Works by 68.1% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 68,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,930,000 after buying an additional 27,943 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 12.3% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 24,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.5% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,462,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $314,847,000 after acquiring an additional 13,145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Huntington lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group cut shares of American Water Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $153.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Friday. Mizuho set a $149.00 target price on American Water Works in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on American Water Works from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.14.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $149.19 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $136.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $29.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.86, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.56. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $120.57 and a 1-year high of $153.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 10.14%. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

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