Norges Bank Takes $294.52 Million Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,365,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $294,524,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 126,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.1% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 18,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 11.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 353,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,716,000 after acquiring an additional 36,424 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co purchased a new position in American Water Works in the third quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in American Water Works by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 34,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $146.28 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $152.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $133.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Equities analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

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.