American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Downgraded to Strong Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on AWK. Bank of America upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.89.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $131.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.07. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $121.28 and a 1 year high of $150.51.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 21.61%.The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AWK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $925,605,000 after acquiring an additional 6,882,575 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at $337,004,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $847,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,683 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 383.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,596,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $361,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,386,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,487,000 after acquiring an additional 657,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.