FY2025 EPS Forecast for American Water Works Cut by Analyst

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research cut their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of American Water Works in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, October 29th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $5.69 for the year, down from their prior forecast of $5.70. The consensus estimate for American Water Works’ current full-year earnings is $5.27 per share.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $135.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $142.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.10.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 62.32%.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in American Water Works by 153.8% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 8,266 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after acquiring an additional 31,203 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,023,000 after acquiring an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 20.0% in the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 163,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,943,000 after purchasing an additional 27,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

About American Water Works

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.