American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Declares $0.77 Quarterly Dividend

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%.

American Water Works has raised its dividend by an average of 8.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. American Water Works has a dividend payout ratio of 53.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK traded down $2.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $135.82. 1,054,622 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,193,215. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $143.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.97. 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 company has a market cap of $26.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AWK. Mizuho lowered shares of American Water Works from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began 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 for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Water Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $140.00.

About American Water Works

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.

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