American Water Works Company, Inc. (AWK) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 12th

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $3.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th.

American Water Works has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 17 years. American Water Works has a dividend payout ratio of 53.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

American Water Works Price Performance

AWK opened at $136.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.70. American Water Works has a fifty-two week low of $113.34 and a fifty-two week high of $150.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $142.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho cut American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Water Works presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

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.