American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AWK opened at $142.56 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.82 and its 200 day moving average is $134.52. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $152.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth about $1,123,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 294.0% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 8,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after buying an additional 6,439 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,313,000. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 8,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.