Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 24th, 2023

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK – Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,217 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $8,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth $281,724,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 64,405.1% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,838,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,208,000 after buying an additional 1,835,544 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in American Water Works by 87.3% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 972,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $142,534,000 after buying an additional 453,565 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,960,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,635,157,000 after buying an additional 434,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in American Water Works by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,710,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $588,579,000 after buying an additional 382,239 shares during the last quarter. 84.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $148.82 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.56. 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 – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $938.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $903.84 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.22% and a net margin of 21.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 8th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Marberry bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $142.35 per share, with a total value of $199,290.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,673 shares in the company, valued at $522,851.55. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AWK shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on American Water Works from $140.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on American Water Works from $152.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.00.

American Water Works Profile

(Free Report)

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.