Lloyd Yates Just Bought 49% More Shares In American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

Potential American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) shareholders may wish to note that insider Lloyd Yates recently bought US$232k worth of stock, paying US$116 for each share. That's a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 49%.

View our latest analysis for American Water Works Company

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At American Water Works Company

The Executive VP, Michael Sgro, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.3m worth of shares at a price of US$138 each. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$118. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 2.00k shares for US$232k. But insiders sold 34186 shares worth US$4.4m. In total, American Water Works Company insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

I will like American Water Works Company better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does American Water Works Company Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that American Water Works Company insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$45m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About American Water Works Company Insiders?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at American Water Works Company, in the last three months. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. But since American Water Works Company is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with American Water Works Company (including 1 which is significant).

Of course American Water Works Company may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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