American Water Works’ (AWK) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $164.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.22% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.33.

American Water Works Stock Down 1.0 %

AWK traded down $1.49 on Thursday, reaching $147.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 77,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,212,378. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $142.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $28.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.69. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,268,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Water Works

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 100.0% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.