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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $142.29.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AWK shares. Mizuho cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 155.6% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 31.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in American Water Works by 446.2% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $123.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The stock has a market cap of $24.12 billion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.47.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.59%.

American Water Works Company Profile

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.