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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.00.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AWK. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AWK. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,023,000 after buying an additional 5,564 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in American Water Works by 65.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,557,000 after acquiring an additional 42,094 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in American Water Works by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 969,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $121.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $23.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71. American Water Works has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $128.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.82.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 60.59%.

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.