DnB Asset Management AS Has $10.93 Million Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,165 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $10,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $294,524,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in American Water Works by 4,227.0% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 695,474 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $71,120,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,687,000 after purchasing an additional 477,411 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

American Water Works Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $146.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.39. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $152.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.52 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works 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.