California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 4,338 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 943,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,338 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $117,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $738,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 87,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,927,000 after purchasing an additional 5,165 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in American Water Works by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in American Water Works by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $4,696,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

American Water Works Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE AWK opened at $147.51 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $152.07. The firm has a market cap of $28.76 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

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

About American Water Works

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.