New York State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stock Position in SJW Group (NYSE:SJW)

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in SJW Group were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SJW. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group in the second quarter valued at $28,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of SJW Group by 263.8% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SJW Group by 1,822.7% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group in the second quarter valued at $81,000. 84.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SJW Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SJW Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

SJW Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SJW opened at $52.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.58. SJW Group has a 1-year low of $51.37 and a 1-year high of $79.48. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business 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 company posted $1.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that SJW Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is a boost from SJW Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group’s dividend payout ratio is 59.93%.

SJW Group 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.