PGGM Investments Buys 15,651 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,651 shares during the period. PGGM Investments’ holdings in American Water Works were worth $21,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 34,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,213,000 after purchasing an additional 10,984 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 84,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,497,000 after purchasing an additional 9,796 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Personal Financial Services increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 69,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,576,000 after purchasing an additional 4,028 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on AWK shares. Evercore ISI lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock traded down $0.77 on Friday, reaching $120.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,058,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,399,517. The stock has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.63. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.18.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. American Water Works’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About American Water Works

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.