Brokerages Set American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) PT at $138.78

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $138.7778.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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 note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in American Water Works by 10,819.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 62,462,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,218,760,000 after purchasing an additional 61,890,078 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth $2,712,173,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter worth $1,171,477,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 valued at $925,605,000 after purchasing an additional 6,882,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at $443,787,000. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Stock Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $139.90 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.49. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $120.57 and a 1 year high of $146.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.60.

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

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.895 per share. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.05%.

About American Water Works

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.