Truist Financial Begins Coverage on American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)

Key Points

• Truist Financial initiated coverage on American Water Works (AWK) with a Hold rating and a $137 price target, implying roughly a 2.6% upside from the current price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but centers on Hold—one Buy, nine Holds and one Sell—with an average target of $141.20; notable recent calls include Barclays' underweight ($124) and Bank of America's upgrade to neutral ($139).
• AWK recently missed quarterly EPS ($1.24 vs. $1.28 expected) and revenue but set FY2026 guidance of 6.020–6.120 EPS; the company has a market cap of about $26.1B, a PE near 23.5, and institutional ownership around 86.6%.

Truist Financial started coverage on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a "hold" rating and a $137.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock. Truist Financial's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 2.64% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AWK. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Water Works from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $126.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of American Water Works from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.20.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK stock opened at $133.48 on Tuesday. American Water Works has a one year low of $121.28 and a one year high of $150.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $134.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $26.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.74.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 21.61%.The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in American Water Works by 14.5% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 350,471 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,782,000 after acquiring an additional 44,336 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 85,976 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,967,000 after purchasing an additional 4,553 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 489,371 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,863,000 after purchasing an additional 47,352 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,219,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $290,729,000 after purchasing an additional 47,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 31.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 136,504 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,000,000 after purchasing an additional 32,834 shares during 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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