Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 7,656 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,656 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned approximately 0.10% of American Water Works worth $25,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in American Water Works by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,570,936,000 after buying an additional 486,090 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $925,605,000 after acquiring an additional 6,882,575 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in American Water Works by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $847,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,683 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,025,000 after purchasing an additional 33,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in American Water Works by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,171,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $544,420,000 after purchasing an additional 275,511 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Water Works from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $131.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $127.13 and a 200-day moving average of $130.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $25.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.57 and a 52-week high of $147.87.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.895 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.48%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.