Truist Financial Cuts American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Price Target to $138.00

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) had its price target reduced by Truist Financial from $139.00 to $138.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AWK. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.90.

American Water Works Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $134.65 on Tuesday. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $120.57 and a 1-year high of $147.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $130.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.60.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Water Works will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.895 per share. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in American Water Works by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,570,936,000 after buying an additional 486,090 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $925,605,000 after acquiring an additional 6,882,575 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $847,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,683 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,025,000 after acquiring an additional 33,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,081,000 after acquiring an additional 179,127 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Water Works Company Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.