Investing in water is one of the trends that investors have gone after for years and years.  After all, the future of the world and life depend entirely upon the availability of fresh water.  American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) is a company that we predicted in February would raise its dividend.  That has just happened.

American Water Works just announced that its board of directors has authorized an increase in its quarterly cash dividend.  Our prediction in February was ‘we think the dividend will go to $0.22 or $0.23 per’… The dividend was raised by almost 5% to $0.22 from its prior $0.21 rate.

Based upon a current share price of $21.15, the new $0.88 per year annualized payout generates a yield of 4.15%.

American Water is the largest public US water utility.  It supplies drinking water and wastewater to roughly 16 million people in 35 states and two provinces in Canada.

The $21.15 share price compares to a 52-week trading range of $18.70 to $23.77.

JON C. OGG