American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AWK. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of American Water Works in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of American Water Works from $142.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of American Water Works from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $139.00 in a report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Water Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.11.

American Water Works Price Performance

NYSE AWK opened at $133.48 on Friday. American Water Works has a 12 month low of $121.28 and a 12 month high of $150.51. The stock has a market cap of $26.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average is $134.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.04). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 21.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. American Water Works’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. American Water Works has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.020-6.120 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Water Works will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 14.5% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 350,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,782,000 after purchasing an additional 44,336 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 85,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,967,000 after purchasing an additional 4,553 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 489,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,863,000 after purchasing an additional 47,352 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,219,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,729,000 after purchasing an additional 47,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 31.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 136,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after purchasing an additional 32,834 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Water Works Company Profile

American Water Works Company, Inc (NYSE: AWK) is a publicly traded utility company that provides water and wastewater services in the United States. Its core business is the operation, management and maintenance of regulated water and wastewater systems that deliver potable water, collect and treat wastewater, and provide related customer services to residential, commercial and industrial customers as well as municipalities. The company’s operations include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter reading and billing, emergency repairs, and long-term infrastructure planning and capital project execution.

In addition to its regulated utility operations, American Water offers complementary nonregulated services and solutions that support system reliability and customer needs.