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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Evercore ISI cut American Water Works from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and reduced their target price for the company from $160.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

American Water Works Stock Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $122.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $121.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.78. The company has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.63. American Water Works has a 12-month low of $114.25 and a 12-month high of $153.43.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 22.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total transaction of $100,814.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in American Water Works by 110.8% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Water Works during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in American Water Works during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 86.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.