Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $124.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock.

AWK has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America restated an underperform rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $138.25.

American Water Works Stock Down 4.3 %

AWK traded down $6.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $136.38. 899,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,223,290. The stock has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a twelve month low of $113.34 and a twelve month high of $150.68. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $144.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.64.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Insider Transactions at American Water Works

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in American Water Works by 945.5% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 12,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,464,674 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $189,177,000 after buying an additional 1,453,334 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter worth about $108,688,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 70.3% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.