American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.57.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AWK. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 294.0% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 8,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 6,439 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $37,313,000. ABLE Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 8,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after buying an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $1,015,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of AWK stock opened at $140.84 on Thursday. American Water Works has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $152.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $128.45 and its 200 day moving average is $134.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Research analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

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.