American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Announces Earnings Results

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($0.10), Zacks reports. American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 21.35%.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE:AWK traded down $1.29 on Wednesday, reaching $139.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,137,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,200. The company has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.58. American Water Works has a 1-year low of $120.57 and a 1-year high of $144.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $135.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.25.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a $0.8950 dividend. This represents a $3.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 62.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AWK. Truist Financial set a $139.00 target price on American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Water Works from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of American Water Works from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $136.75.

American Water Works Company Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc is a public water and wastewater utility that provides essential services to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers. Through its regulated businesses, the company supplies drinking water, collects and treats wastewater, and manages related infrastructure, including treatment plants, pipelines, storage facilities and customer service systems.

Founded in 1886, American Water has grown into one of the largest water and wastewater service providers in the United States.