American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Upgraded by UBS Group to “Buy” Rating

UBS Group upgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. UBS Group currently has $155.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $151.00.

AWK has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.29.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.1 %

AWK opened at $138.19 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $113.34 and a 1-year high of $150.68.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.765 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,503,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,682,280,000 after buying an additional 214,082 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.7% in the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 6,902,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,422,000 after acquiring an additional 247,745 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,564,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,163,000 after acquiring an additional 43,754 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of American Water Works by 6.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,245,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,354,000 after acquiring an additional 143,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC grew its holdings in American Water Works by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,588,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,120,000 after purchasing an additional 32,764 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Water Works Company Profile

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.