Bank of America Reiterates “Underperform” Rating for American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)

Bank of America restated their underperform rating on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $140.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

AWK has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Water Works from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised American Water Works to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $140.29.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AWK opened at $147.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Water Works will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in American Water Works during the 2nd quarter worth $488,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 2nd quarter worth $3,715,000. Pensioenfonds Rail & OV purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter valued at $21,311,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 357,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the second quarter worth about $1,295,000. 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.