Amalgamated Bank Reduces Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,162 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $6,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 36,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,561,000 after acquiring an additional 4,909 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in American Water Works by 39.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 43,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 12,433 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in American Water Works by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,624,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,154,000 after buying an additional 137,006 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 29,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,690,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Trading Up 2.2 %

American Water Works stock opened at $128.75 on Monday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $151.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $119.53 and its 200 day moving average is $124.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. This is a boost from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AWK. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works 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.