American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Water Works from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.57.

American Water Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWK opened at $140.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. American Water Works has a one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $152.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.46.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AWK. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after buying an additional 125,128 shares during the period. 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 position in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in American Water Works by 65.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 106,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,557,000 after purchasing an additional 42,094 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.