American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $140.29.

A number of analysts have commented on AWK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $144.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.24.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.07%.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 153.8% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 8,266 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its position in American Water Works by 202.2% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after buying an additional 31,203 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in American Water Works by 945.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $44,441,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% 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.