Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Trims Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7,752.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 483,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,803,000 after buying an additional 477,235 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 12,606.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 463,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,320,000 after purchasing an additional 460,262 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 7,062.8% during the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 318,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,417,000 after purchasing an additional 313,872 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in American Water Works by 1,173.5% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 336,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,687,000 after purchasing an additional 310,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in American Water Works by 741.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,405,000 after purchasing an additional 280,402 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:AWK traded up $2.80 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $128.75. 1,735,768 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,694,021. The firm has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $119.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $151.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $962.30 million. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AWK shares. StockNews.com cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th.

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.