Argus Raises American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Price Target to $160.00

Key Points

• Argus raised the price target for American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from $155.00 to $160.00, maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 11.37%.
• The stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" with a consensus target price of $143.30, highlighting mixed reviews from several brokerages.
• American Water Works reported earnings of $1.48 per share, missing expectations, but its revenue increased 11.1% year-over-year to $1.28 billion.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Argus from $155.00 to $160.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AWK. 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. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.30.

American Water Works Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AWK traded down $1.08 on Thursday, hitting $142.84. The company had a trading volume of 899,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,433,366. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $141.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.64. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $155.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.65.

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

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.8275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. American Water Works's payout ratio is currently 59.64%.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other news, CAO Melissa K. Wikle sold 2,825 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.28, for a total value of $404,766.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,572 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,916.16. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 33.4% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,699 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,431,000 after buying an additional 2,429 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 124,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $18,344,000 after buying an additional 2,570 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.2% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,556,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 45.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 21.5% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

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.