American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives $141.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $139.38.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group raised 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AWK. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in American Water Works by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in American Water Works by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,557,000 after purchasing an additional 42,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 969,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,889 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK opened at $126.47 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.81. The company has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.59%.

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.