American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.05 EPS

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. American Water Works updated its FY24 guidance to $5.25-5.30 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 5.250-5.300 EPS.

American Water Works Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AWK traded up $2.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $144.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,100,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,299,283. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $133.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.41. The company has a market capitalization of $28.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.31, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $146.06.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is 62.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group upped their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.17.

American Water Works Company Profile

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.