Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $35.53 Million Stock Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 3,229.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 269,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 261,125 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $35,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 538,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,127,000 after acquiring an additional 20,288 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7,752.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,803,000 after acquiring an additional 477,235 shares during the last quarter. Covea Finance raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 278,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,758,000 after acquiring an additional 47,200 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 27.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 81,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,151,000 after acquiring an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,207,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWK. Evercore ISI cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AWK stock traded up $0.83 on Thursday, hitting $125.95. The stock had a trading volume of 2,228,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,487,754. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $151.24. The firm has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $119.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.27.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.