LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Buys 6,200 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 238.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,200 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $1,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in American Water Works by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 538,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,127,000 after acquiring an additional 20,288 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 7,752.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,803,000 after buying an additional 477,235 shares during the last quarter. Covea Finance raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 278,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,758,000 after buying an additional 47,200 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 27.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 81,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,151,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AWK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of AWK stock traded down $1.92 on Thursday, reaching $123.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 427,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,465,927. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.27. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $151.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.62.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 57.87%.

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.