American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $151.50 and last traded at $149.82, with a volume of 786596 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $145.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AWK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.57.

American Water Works Trading Down 4.6 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $128.12 and a 200 day moving average of $134.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after purchasing an additional 42,094 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.