American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Position Boosted by Archford Capital Strategies LLC

Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,023,000 after buying an additional 5,564 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 65.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,557,000 after buying an additional 42,094 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 969,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,709,000 after buying an additional 5,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $121.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 60.59%.

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.