UBS Group Downgrades American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) to Hold

UBS Group downgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on AWK. Barclays started coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded American Water Works from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $142.00.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.07. 578,816 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,218,168. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.73. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $118.74 and a 1-year high of $155.50. The firm has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. American Water Works's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.8275 dividend. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from American Water Works's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. American Water Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.77%.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $277,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,783,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About American Water Works

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.