American Water Works Company, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 (NYSE:AWK)

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th.

American Water Works has raised its dividend by an average of 8.4% annually over the last three years. American Water Works has a dividend payout ratio of 49.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.7%.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $123.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $150.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.38.

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.