UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Sells 85,984 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd reduced its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 46.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 99,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 85,984 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $12,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth $1,783,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $143.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $132.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $27.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $152.07.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current 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.