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

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $141.4444.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group set a $149.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on American Water Works from $134.00 to $122.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen started coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Mizuho set a $145.00 price target on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $114.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.3%

AWK opened at $129.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $118.74 and a 12 month high of $155.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.28.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 21.93%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is presently 58.17%.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 88.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 257,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,829,000 after acquiring an additional 120,890 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its stake in American Water Works by 28.4% during the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 11,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in American Water Works by 144.4% during the second quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 14,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 8,703 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in American Water Works by 11.2% in the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new position in American Water Works in the second quarter valued at approximately $486,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Company Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.