Allstate Corp Takes $738,000 Position in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $738,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AWK. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in American Water Works by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in American Water Works by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at $1,783,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $147.51 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $133.54 and a 200-day moving average of $134.31. The company has a market capitalization of $28.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $152.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works 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.