American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 82 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 266.7% during the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AWK. Evercore ISI cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $132.96 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $151.24. The firm has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.40%.

American Water Works Company 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.