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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $140.8889.

AWK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $145.00 price objective on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen started coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group set a $149.00 price target on American Water Works in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $114.00 to $124.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 350,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,782,000 after acquiring an additional 44,336 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in American Water Works by 88.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 257,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,829,000 after purchasing an additional 120,890 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in American Water Works by 31.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 136,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after purchasing an additional 32,834 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 7.2% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 116,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 7,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 144.4% during the second quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 14,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 8,703 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 AWK opened at $129.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $130.53 and a 200-day moving average of $135.99. American Water Works has a one year low of $121.39 and a one year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.04. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. American Water Works’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a $0.8275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.17%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.