American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Stock Price Down 0.3%

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) traded down 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $119.93 and last traded at $121.05. 324,434 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 1,444,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

American Water Works Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $119.13 and its 200 day moving average is $124.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.63.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. American Water Works’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in American Water Works by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in American Water Works by 100.0% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.