American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AWK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target 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. UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AWK traded down $2.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $142.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,548,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,137,651. The company has a market cap of $27.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $113.34 and a 12 month high of $152.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AWK. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in 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 worth $8,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in American Water Works by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 42,094 shares in the last quarter. 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.