American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Shares Sold by Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 198 shares during the period. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth $294,524,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,180,000 after buying an additional 1,736,258 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4,227.0% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 695,474 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,120,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in American Water Works by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

American Water Works Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $147.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $135.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly 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. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.