Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $281,000 Stock Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $189,177,000 after buying an additional 1,453,334 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,012,272,000 after acquiring an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in American Water Works by 14,944.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 537,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,750,000 after acquiring an additional 534,411 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in American Water Works by 631.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 445,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,192,000 after acquiring an additional 384,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in American Water Works by 201.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,264,000 after acquiring an additional 291,315 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $134.23 on Friday. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68. The stock has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $141.00 and a 200-day moving average of $137.30.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other 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 value of $101,423.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.