Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 751 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $4,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 5.3% in the second quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 32.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 508,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,704,000 after purchasing an additional 124,908 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,995,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 2,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.60.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AWK opened at $148.13 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $149.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.