American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Now Covered by Barclays

Equities research analysts at Barclays began coverage on shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) in a research note issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 6.24% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded American Water Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.38.

American Water Works Stock Performance

AWK opened at $147.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $155.50. The company has a market cap of $28.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.25.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of 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 worth $300,739,000 after purchasing an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,562 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at $1,783,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.