Redmond Asset Management LLC Makes New $856,000 Investment in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Redmond Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $856,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after buying an additional 214,082 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,163,000 after purchasing an additional 43,754 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 1,131.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321,320 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,120,062 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,798,000 after purchasing an additional 18,586 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $132.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $124.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.83. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 10.33%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 56.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AWK. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.57.

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.