American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Holdings Cut by Covea Finance

Covea Finance lowered its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 231,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,223 shares during the period. American Water Works comprises about 1.8% of Covea Finance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Covea Finance owned about 0.12% of American Water Works worth $33,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AWK. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 8,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,053,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in American Water Works by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 0.5% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,620,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Moore & CO. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 7,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. Guggenheim dropped their target price on American Water Works from $152.00 to $147.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $169.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on American Water Works from $140.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.83.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of American Water Works stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, reaching $140.37. 358,004 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,001,920. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $141.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.77 and a fifty-two week high of $162.59.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.17. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 22.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.08%.

About American Water Works

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 1,600 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.4 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.