American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) PT Raised to $156.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK – Get Rating) had its target price raised by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 3.96% from the stock’s current price.

AWK has been the subject of several other research reports. HSBC upgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on American Water Works in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $161.00 in a report on Monday, February 7th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $163.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $172.00 to $171.00 in a report on Friday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $174.00.

NYSE AWK opened at $162.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $29.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.41. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $144.20 and a 52 week high of $189.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $157.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $166.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $951.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 32.14% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AWK. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 10.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 88,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,006,000 after purchasing an additional 8,738 shares during the last quarter. GWM Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 9.4% in the third quarter. GWM Advisors LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Landsberg Bennett & Dubbaneh LLC boosted its position in American Water Works by 9.6% in the third quarter. Landsberg Bennett & Dubbaneh LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works in the third quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in American Water Works by 105.2% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 104,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,810,000 after purchasing an additional 53,339 shares during the last quarter. 82.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Company Profile (Get Rating)

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 3.4 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.

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