Short Interest in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Increases By 5.2%

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the July 15th total of 3,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AWK traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $141.53. The stock had a trading volume of 457,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,269,037. The business’s 50 day moving average is $136.37 and its 200-day moving average is $127.85. The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $149.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that American Water Works will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 153.8% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 8,266 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after purchasing an additional 31,203 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth $44,441,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AWK has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.17.

American Water Works Company 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.