2,704 Shares in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Bought by Sargent Investment Group LLC

Sargent Investment Group LLC bought a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,334 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in American Water Works by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 718,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,761,000 after buying an additional 70,205 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Water Works in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $499,000. Quilter Plc lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% during the second quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 198,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,576,000 after buying an additional 2,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.1% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 35,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,622,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.60.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AWK opened at $149.88 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $142.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $150.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 62.07%.

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.