American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Downgraded by Mizuho

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) was downgraded by equities researchers at Mizuho from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $140.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $131.00. Mizuho’s price target indicates a potential downside of 1.81% from the stock’s previous close.

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

American Water Works Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AWK opened at $142.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a PEG 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 one year low of $113.34 and a one year high of $150.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.69.

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

Insider Activity at American Water Works

In other news, Director Martha Clark Goss sold 710 shares of American Water Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.85, for a total value of $101,423.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,880 shares in the company, valued at $5,268,308. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Water Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,648,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,012,272,000 after purchasing an additional 624,977 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 153.8% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 8,266 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 202.2% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 46,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after buying an additional 31,203 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 21.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after buying an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Water Works by 20.0% in the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 163,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,943,000 after buying an additional 27,200 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently 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.