American Water Works Company, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.77 (NYSE:AWK)

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of 0.765 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th.

American Water Works has increased its dividend by an average of 8.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 17 years. American Water Works has a payout ratio of 54.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect American Water Works to earn $5.68 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 53.9%.

American Water Works Price Performance

American Water Works stock opened at $142.46 on Thursday. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $148.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.70 and its 200 day moving average is $126.29. The company has a market cap of $27.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.67.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. American Water Works had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 22.27%. American Water Works’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Water Works will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AWK shares. UBS Group increased their price target on American Water Works from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.17.

American Water Works Company Profile

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.