American Water Works’ (AWK) “Underperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

Bank of America reaffirmed their underperform rating on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $140.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on AWK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded American Water Works to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $140.29.

American Water Works Stock Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $147.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $143.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.06. The company has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth $488,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,715,000. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at about $21,311,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 357,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth about $1,295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.