Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 2.43 percent to $802 million from $783 million in the previous year period. Total expenses were 69.08 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 70.37 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 129 basis points in operating margin to 30.92 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $248 million, compared with $232 million in the previous year period.

"American Water continued our strong growth in 2016." said Susan Story, president and chief executive officer of American Water. "We invested a record $1.5 billion in 2016, the majority of which was for infrastructure which improves our long-term service reliability and water quality for our customers. We also added approximately 42,000 customers through acquisitions, 13,000 through organic growth and have pending acquisitions representing another 40,000 customers."

For fiscal year 2017, American Water Works Company, Inc. expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.98 to $3.08.

Debt moves up
American Water Works Company, Inc. has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $7,182 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 9.55 percent or $626 million from $6,556 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 38.86 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 38.03 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 1.38 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 1.30 as on Dec. 31, 2015. Interest coverage ratio improved to 2.99 for the quarter from 2.94 for the same period last year.