American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $124.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AWK. Wolfe Research upgraded American Water Works to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Water Works from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $140.00.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $136.20 on Monday. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $150.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.00.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Water Works

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Water Works by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 153.8% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 8,266 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 202.2% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after purchasing an additional 31,203 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,023,000 after acquiring an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633,389 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by 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.