Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 4,415 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,361,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,415 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.72% of American Water Works worth $467,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth $344,645,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Water Works by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,227,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,650,543,000 after purchasing an additional 597,916 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in American Water Works by 16.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,442,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $478,817,000 after buying an additional 494,868 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 81.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,043,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $145,217,000 after acquiring an additional 469,641 shares during the period. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 31,955.0% in the second quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 320,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,592,000 after purchasing an additional 319,550 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on AWK shares. Bank of America raised American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on American Water Works from $142.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $134.00 to $122.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $149.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.89.

American Water Works Trading Down 3.6%

AWK opened at $132.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.77. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.28 and a 52 week high of $155.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $130.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.61% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

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.