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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.17.

A number of brokerages have commented on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.0 %

American Water Works stock opened at $141.82 on Friday. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $149.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $138.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $27.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

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

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Water Works by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after buying an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in American Water Works by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 6,902,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,422,000 after purchasing an additional 247,745 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,143,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $261,949,000 after buying an additional 25,887 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,476,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 945.5% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.