American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Hits New 52-Week Low at $114.05

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $114.05 and last traded at $114.15, with a volume of 197760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWK has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $119.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.63.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. American Water Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In related news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,960,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,635,157,000 after buying an additional 434,737 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,857,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,590,470,000 after purchasing an additional 423,764 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,624,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $695,850,000 after purchasing an additional 129,005 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,114,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $730,062,000 after purchasing an additional 528,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,007,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $585,708,000 after purchasing an additional 297,378 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.