American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

AWK has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $147.36 on Friday. American Water Works has a 12-month low of $113.34 and a 12-month high of $155.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $135.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.49. The stock has a market cap of $28.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68.

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. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 1.2% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON raised its position in shares of American Water Works by 0.3% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 32,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,768,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in American Water Works by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in American Water Works by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during 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.