03:00 PM EDT, 04/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

Along with utilities peers, shares of AWK are under pressure today following an above-expectation CPI print and a concurrent increase in the 10-year treasury yield to over 4.5%. As part of a group with above-average P/E multiples (10-year average over 28x for S&P 1500 water utilities), shares of AWK can be particularly sensitive to higher interest rates, and we think the stock may continue to struggle if we see a slower or less intense rate cut program from the Fed. However, we think the recent valuation could also bring attractive upside should bond yields fall more quickly, particularly as AWK offers one of the more attractive EPS (about 7.7%) and dividend (about 8.1%) growth profiles (2023-2026 three-year CAGR) within the sector, in our view. For now, we maintain a Hold view with shares yielding near 2.6%. We lower our 12-month target price by $7 to $128, 24.4x our 2024 EPS estimate (unchanged at $5.25) a discount to AWK's historical average. We raise our 2025 estimate by $0.07 to $5.67.