Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,730 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $10,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,682,280,000 after buying an additional 214,082 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,163,000 after acquiring an additional 43,754 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,245,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $328,354,000 after acquiring an additional 143,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1,131.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.38.

American Water Works Stock Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $122.53 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $126.21 and its 200 day moving average is $136.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.59%.

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.