Brokerages Set American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Price Target at $141.00

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $141.00.

AWK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Water Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $133.00 to $129.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lowered American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 306,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,035,000 after acquiring an additional 49,125 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its position in American Water Works by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 19,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in American Water Works by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 42,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,314,000 after purchasing an additional 5,532 shares during the period. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 12,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 23,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,932,000 after buying an additional 1,031 shares during the period. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $121.67 on Wednesday. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $128.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.59%.

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.