American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives $135.60 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.29.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AWK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $275,476,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 43.3% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,320,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,232,000 after buying an additional 86,234 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 352,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,537,000 after buying an additional 15,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in American Water Works by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 94,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,539,000 after buying an additional 9,005 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $144.12 on Thursday. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $28.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

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.