American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Shares Up 5.4% - Here's What Happened

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 5.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $127.77 and last traded at $128.14. Approximately 787,133 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 1,010,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut American Water Works from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Water Works from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded American Water Works from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Remove Ads

American Water Works Trading Up 6.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $25.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $128.48 and a 200 day moving average of $136.85.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. American Water Works's payout ratio is presently 60.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after purchasing an additional 214,082 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $665,163,000 after acquiring an additional 43,754 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in American Water Works by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,245,306 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $328,354,000 after acquiring an additional 143,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 1,131.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,438,137 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,313,000 after buying an additional 1,321,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.