American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Upgraded to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $129.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $133.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 5.89% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on AWK. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $121.82 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.48. American Water Works has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,334 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 1,131.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,313,000 after buying an additional 1,321,320 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 4,227.0% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 711,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 695,474 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 14,944.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 537,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,750,000 after acquiring an additional 534,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 268.0% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,868,000 after acquiring an additional 391,166 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.