American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Price Target Raised to $160.00

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) had its price target boosted by Argus from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on American Water Works from $148.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.30.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $143.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.65. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.52.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.64%.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In related news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total transaction of $404,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,916.16. This trade represents a 27.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AWK. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in American Water Works by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,195,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,581,000 after acquiring an additional 29,529 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in American Water Works during the 2nd quarter worth about $80,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 92,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its holdings in American Water Works by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 89,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,475,000 after acquiring an additional 41,118 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in American Water Works by 68.1% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 13,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,890,000 after acquiring an additional 5,504 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is 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.