American Water Works Company, Inc. (AWK) – What Are Analysts Thinking About This Stock?

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $141.14.

AWK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $139.00 target price on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Huntington lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Water Works from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $153.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Friday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 43.9% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 833,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,491,000 after purchasing an additional 254,450 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 21.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Compass Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the third quarter worth about $324,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the third quarter worth about $64,201,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 83.7% during the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 4,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 1,931 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $150.42 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.56. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $120.57 and a 12 month high of $153.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.87.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 10.14%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that American Water Works will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be given a $0.8950 dividend. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.05%.

American Water Works Company Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc is a U.S. water and wastewater utility that provides services to residential, commercial, industrial, and public-sector customers. Its operations include treating and distributing drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and maintaining the infrastructure needed to deliver those services.

The company operates regulated water and wastewater utilities across multiple states, serving communities in regions including the Northeast, Midwest, and South.