American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Director Sells $101,423.50 in Stock

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $143.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $149.00. The firm has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $139.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.70.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on AWK shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $275,476,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $189,177,000 after buying an additional 1,453,334 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the first quarter valued at $108,688,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $92,838,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.