American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.05 EPS

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.05), Briefing.com reports. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works updated its FY24 guidance to $5.25-5.30 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 5.250-5.300 EPS.

American Water Works Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of AWK traded up $2.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,210,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 868,210. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.40 and its 200-day moving average is $126.52. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $148.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be paid a $0.765 dividend. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. American Water Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.17.

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.