Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 9,900 American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 9,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,347,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $925,605,000 after acquiring an additional 6,882,575 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $337,004,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $847,361,000 after buying an additional 2,539,683 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in American Water Works by 383.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,596,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $361,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058,656 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in American Water Works by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,386,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,487,000 after purchasing an additional 657,849 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AWK. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.22.

American Water Works Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of AWK stock opened at $136.56 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.37. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.57 and a twelve month high of $147.87. The company has a market capitalization of $26.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.895 per share. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.48%.

American Water Works Company 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.