American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Declares $0.77 Quarterly Dividend

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%.

American Water Works has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. American Water Works has a payout ratio of 53.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $131.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,206,413. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.81. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AWK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.29.

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.