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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th.

American Water Works has increased its dividend by an average of 8.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. American Water Works has a payout ratio of 54.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.68 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 53.9%.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE:AWK opened at $142.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $135.03 and a 200 day moving average of $127.12. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $149.00.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

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.