American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Stock Has Average Target Price of $137.88

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $139.86.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial set a $139.00 price target on American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Huntington cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $149.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, October 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in American Water Works during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,712,173,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in American Water Works by 35.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,911,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,962,116,000 after buying an additional 3,883,057 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works during the second quarter worth approximately $1,171,477,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 4.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,081,000 after acquiring an additional 179,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth $443,787,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $152.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.39. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $120.57 and a fifty-two week high of $153.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $132.77. The company has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.56.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.04 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.8950 per share. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is 62.05%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc is a public water and wastewater utility that provides essential services to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers. Through its regulated businesses, the company supplies drinking water, collects and treats wastewater, and manages related infrastructure, including treatment plants, pipelines, storage facilities and customer service systems.

Founded in 1886, American Water has grown into one of the largest water and wastewater service providers in the United States.