American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives $142.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $143.22.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut American Water Works from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AWK. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 376,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,560 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works in the 3rd quarter valued at $716,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in American Water Works by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 54,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,996,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new position in American Water Works in the third quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,034,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,170,000 after purchasing an additional 29,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $149.29 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $144.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.86. The company has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is an increase from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.29%.

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.