American Water Works (AWK) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

American Water Works Company, Inc. is a public water and wastewater utility that provides essential services to residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in the United States. Through its regulated operations, the company collects, treats, distributes, and manages drinking water, as well as collects and treats wastewater.

The company also provides services through businesses that support utilities, municipalities, military installations, and other public-sector customers. These activities include operating and maintaining water and wastewater systems, engineering and technical services, infrastructure management, and customer-focused services such as billing and service support.

American Water traces its history to 1886 and serves communities through regulated operations in multiple states, including California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. It also operates contracted water and wastewater systems for military facilities and other customers. Susan Hardwick serves as the company’s president and chief executive officer.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $129.44 to $131.51
• 50-Day Range: $128.90 to $140.77
• 52-Week Range: $120.57 to $145.64
• Volume: 1.69 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.00 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $25.75 billion
• P/E Ratio: 22.45
• Dividend Yield: 2.76%
• Price Target: $140.11
• Consensus Rating: Hold

American Water Works Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

American Water Works scored higher than 66% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 62nd out of 95 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.6 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

American Water Works has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.00, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 1 buy rating, 8 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for American Water Works is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

American Water Works has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 8.21%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for American Water Works are expected to grow by 8.21% in the coming year, from $6.09 to $6.59 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of American Water Works is 22.67, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.76.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of American Water Works is 22.67, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 23.89.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

American Water Works has a PEG Ratio of 2.63. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

American Water Works has a P/B Ratio of 2.36. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.64% of the float of American Water Works has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

American Water Works has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.01.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in American Water Works has recently increased by 13.05%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

American Water Works pays a meaningful dividend of 2.73%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

American Water Works has been increasing its dividend for 18 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of American Water Works is 62.05%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, American Water Works will have a dividend payout ratio of 54.32% next year. This indicates that American Water Works will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.8 / 5
• News Sentiment: -0.11

News Sentiment

American Water Works has a news sentiment score of -0.11. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.59 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 14 news articles for American Water Works this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 7 people have searched for AWK on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -13% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

4 people have added American Water Works to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 300% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, American Water Works insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.08% of the stock of American Water Works is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

86.58% of the stock of American Water Works is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/29/2026
• Record date for 9/1 Dividend: 8/11/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/1 Dividend: 8/11/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/01/2026
• Today: 9/30/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/28/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Water Utilities
• Sub-Industry: Water Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:AWK
• CIK: 1410636
• Web: www.amwater.com
• Phone: (856) 955-4001
• Fax: 856-346-8360
• Employees: 7,000
• Year Founded: 1886

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for American Water Works: $140.11
• High Price Target: $162.00
• Low Price Target: $124.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +8.1%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.00
• Research Coverage: 10 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $5.77
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 22.45
• Forward P/E Ratio: 21.27
• P/E Growth: 2.63
• Net Income: $1.11 billion
• Net Margins: 21.35%
• Pretax Margin: 27.25%
• Return on Equity: 10.20%
• Return on Assets: 3.20%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.20
• Current Ratio: 0.52
• Quick Ratio: 0.49

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $5.28 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.87
• Cash Flow: $10.27 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 12.61
• Book Value: $55.52 per share
• Price / Book: 2.33

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 198,729,000
• Free Float: 198,570,000
• Market Cap: $25.75 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.59