Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Purchases New Stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS acquired a new stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $477,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in American Water Works by 442.6% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,213,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,134,000 after purchasing an additional 990,012 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 14.6% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 4.0% during the third quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in American Water Works by 65.4% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 15,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after acquiring an additional 6,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the third quarter valued at approximately $571,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AWK. UBS Group lowered shares of American Water Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $153.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Friday. Huntington lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of American Water Works from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $139.00 target price on American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.14.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $150.26 on Wednesday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.57 and a 12-month high of $153.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.56.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released 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). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 10.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be issued a $0.8950 dividend. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.05%.

American Water Works Company 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. Through contracted operations, it also provides water and wastewater services to certain military installations and municipal customers.