American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $140.00.

AWK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $125.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $150.68. The company has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.31.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 155.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 182 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.