American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.86.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of 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 cut shares of American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th.

American Water Works Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $142.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $27.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $152.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.54.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Water Works by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,107,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,125,598,000 after purchasing an additional 217,582 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in American Water Works by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after acquiring an additional 214,082 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American Water Works by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,671,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,981,000 after acquiring an additional 106,857 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in American Water Works by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,357,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,003,000 after purchasing an additional 335,683 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.