American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

AWK has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded American Water Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.86.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK opened at $142.18 on Wednesday. American Water Works has a 52 week low of $113.34 and a 52 week high of $152.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $130.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.69.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Equities analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWK. 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter worth $502,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in American Water Works by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 121,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,161,000 after buying an additional 4,933 shares in the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $1,123,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 294.0% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 8,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 6,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,313,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

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.