American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $140.00.

Several analysts have commented on AWK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $125.76 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $150.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.72.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,125,598,000 after acquiring an additional 217,582 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after acquiring an additional 214,082 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,981,000 after acquiring an additional 106,857 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,357,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,003,000 after acquiring an additional 335,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.