American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $141.86.

AWK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $144.86 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.88, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $152.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $129.70 and a 200 day moving average of $134.47.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.