American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives $140.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.00.

AWK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Water Works news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in American Water Works during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in American Water Works by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK stock traded up $1.61 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $140.48. 597,669 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,216,286. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $143.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.50. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $150.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.07%.

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.