American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $151.50 and last traded at $149.82, with a volume of 786596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.57.

American Water Works Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $27.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.42.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. On average, analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $277,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,123,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in American Water Works by 65.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after acquiring an additional 42,094 shares during the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.