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

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

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

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $147.52 on Thursday. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $143.50 and a 200 day moving average of $132.06.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. American Water Works’s 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.