American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Stock Rating Lowered by Mizuho

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Mizuho from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $140.00 target price on the utilities provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $131.00. Mizuho's price objective suggests a potential downside of 0.85% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised American Water Works to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $140.00.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AWK stock traded up $0.83 on Tuesday, reaching $141.20. 832,136 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,214,363. The company has a market capitalization of $27.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $150.68. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $143.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.63.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 12,816.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $189,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,334 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new stake in American Water Works in the 1st quarter valued at $108,688,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 70.3% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 958,309 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $117,115,000 after purchasing an additional 395,684 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 201.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,604 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,264,000 after buying an additional 291,315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.