American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Purchased by Miracle Mile Advisors LLC

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 279.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,792 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AWK. State Street Corp raised its stake in American Water Works by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,682,280,000 after purchasing an additional 214,082 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,163,000 after purchasing an additional 43,754 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 6.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,245,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,354,000 after purchasing an additional 143,914 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in American Water Works by 12,816.0% during 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. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $122.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.13. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AWK. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.00.

American Water Works Company 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.