American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded American Water Works from “sell” to “strong sell,” adding bearish sentiment to the stock.
• Analyst views are mixed overall: the current consensus from MarketBeat is a “Hold” rating with an average price target of $140.60, while recent calls from BofA, JPMorgan, UBS, Weiss, and Wells Fargo vary from neutral to buy or hold.
• American Water Works recently missed quarterly EPS estimates with $1.01 versus the expected $1.10, though revenue came in above expectations at $1.21 billion and rose 5.7% year over year.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Sunday.

AWK has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Water Works from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $131.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $140.60.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of AWK opened at $134.80 on Friday. American Water Works has a one year low of $120.57 and a one year high of $147.87. The company has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.75.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.09). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.17%.The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. Research analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in American Water Works by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,037,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,570,936,000 after buying an additional 486,090 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 3,274.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,092,757 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $925,605,000 after buying an additional 6,882,575 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 6,493,161 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $847,361,000 after buying an additional 2,539,683 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,039,122 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $655,025,000 after acquiring an additional 33,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of American Water Works by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,351,056 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $592,081,000 after acquiring an additional 179,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc NYSE: AWK is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company's operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.

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