4,731 Shares in American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK Purchased by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in American Water Works by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 16,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,429,000 after buying an additional 4,762 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the second quarter worth $302,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.5% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 5,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 184.4% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 5,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 3,561 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.78.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of AWK stock opened at $137.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.73. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.57 and a 1 year high of $145.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.08. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.35%.The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.895 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.05%.

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.