American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Receives $143.30 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Key Points

• American Water Works Company has received a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from eleven brokerages, with three analysts assigning a sell rating, six a hold rating, and two a buy rating.
• The company's quarterly earnings fell short of estimates, with an EPS of $1.48 compared to the expected $1.53, despite revenue surpassing analyst expectations at $1.28 billion.
• American Water Works recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.8275 per share, yielding 2.4%, with a current dividend payout ratio of 59.64%.

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $143.30.

A number of research firms have weighed in on AWK. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Argus upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $148.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 9.5% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 34,656 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,825,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.4% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 8,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth $1,031,000. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 12.3% during the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 24,125 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,383,000 after buying an additional 2,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the second quarter valued at about $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK traded up $1.90 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $143.47. The stock had a trading volume of 782,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,201. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $142.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.37. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.8275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.64%.

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.