Pinion Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Pinion Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.60.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE:AWK opened at $148.13 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $149.00. The company has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $141.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.74.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.07%.

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.