American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AWK. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on American Water Works from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.90.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $134.21 on Monday. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $120.57 and a 1-year high of $147.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $130.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.06. The company has a market cap of $26.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 10.20%. American Water Works’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Water Works will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.895 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in American Water Works by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,570,936,000 after purchasing an additional 486,090 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $925,605,000 after purchasing an additional 6,882,575 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $847,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,683 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,025,000 after buying an additional 33,359 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,081,000 after buying an additional 179,127 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.