Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $11.47 Million Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 87,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,900 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $11,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in American Water Works by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,227,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,650,543,000 after purchasing an additional 597,916 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Water Works by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,551,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,886,000 after buying an additional 120,870 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Water Works by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,025,000 after buying an additional 33,359 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in American Water Works by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,779,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $386,882,000 after buying an additional 98,042 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,639,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,462,000 after purchasing an additional 22,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AWK shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.11.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE:AWK opened at $124.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.62. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.57 and a fifty-two week high of $147.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.83. 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 (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.09). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.895 dividend. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 63.48%.

About American Water Works

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.