American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) to Issue $0.77 Quarterly Dividend

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%.

American Water Works has raised its dividend by an average of 8.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. American Water Works has a dividend payout ratio of 53.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK stock opened at $132.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group raised shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.29.

About American Water Works

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.