Mizuho Downgrades American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) to Neutral

by · The Markets Daily

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK – Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Mizuho from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, FinViz reports. They presently have a $140.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $131.00. Mizuho’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 0.34% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AWK. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of American Water Works in a report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Water Works has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on AWK

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AWK opened at $140.48 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. American Water Works has a 1 year low of $113.34 and a 1 year high of $150.68.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05). American Water Works had a net margin of 21.93% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that American Water Works will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In related news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total transaction of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,268,308. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its holdings in American Water Works by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 35,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,195,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in American Water Works by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 68,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,027,000 after acquiring an additional 8,072 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 23,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,398,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 7,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

American Water Works Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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