SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the four ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered SJW Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in SJW Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in SJW Group by 760.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in SJW Group by 130.3% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in SJW Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in SJW Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

SJW Group Stock Down 0.3 %

SJW opened at $54.09 on Tuesday. SJW Group has a one year low of $51.37 and a one year high of $79.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.21 and its 200-day moving average is $60.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.58.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $171.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.23 million. SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.10% and a net margin of 12.68%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that SJW Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. This is a positive change from SJW Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group’s payout ratio is presently 59.93%.

SJW Group Company Profile

SJW Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in the United States. It operates in Water Utility Services and Real Estate Services segments. The company engages in the production, purchase, storage, purification, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of water and wastewater services; and supplies groundwater from wells, surface water from watershed run-off and diversion, reclaimed water, and imported water purchased from the Santa Clara Valley Water District.