American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) Upgraded to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) was upgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $129.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $133.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.29% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on AWK. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of American Water Works in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of American Water Works in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on American Water Works in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Water Works to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of American Water Works from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

American Water Works Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of American Water Works stock opened at $122.52 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.71. American Water Works has a 52-week low of $113.34 and a 52-week high of $150.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in American Water Works by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of American Water Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,418,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $300,739,000 after acquiring an additional 125,128 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Water Works by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its stake in American Water Works by 268.0% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 537,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,868,000 after purchasing an additional 391,166 shares in the last quarter. 86.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.