American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

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

American Water Works Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AWK opened at $122.21 on Tuesday. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $114.25 and a 12 month high of $153.43. The firm has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $120.98 and its 200-day moving average is $125.75.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.04. American Water Works had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Water Works news, EVP Melanie M. Kennedy sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.59, for a total value of $100,814.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,942,141.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Water Works

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,476,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Water Works by 64,405.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,838,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835,544 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of American Water Works by 945.5% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,806,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,397,000 after buying an additional 1,633,389 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works in the 4th quarter worth about $92,838,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in American Water Works by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,114,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $730,062,000 after purchasing an additional 528,070 shares during the last quarter. 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.