American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $141.00.

AWK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its holdings in American Water Works by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 14,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,005,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in American Water Works by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after acquiring an additional 6,454 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shilanski & Associates Inc. increased its stake in American Water Works by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 26,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,271,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $126.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.07.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 60.59%.

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.