SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on SJW. Seaport Res Ptn raised SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SJW Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.00.

SJW Group Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE SJW opened at $53.50 on Friday. SJW Group has a 1 year low of $51.37 and a 1 year high of $78.42. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.58. 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 50-day simple moving average is $55.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.54.

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). SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $171.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SJW Group will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of SJW Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SJW. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in SJW Group by 32.6% in the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,137,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,381,000 after buying an additional 279,870 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,659,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,465,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after purchasing an additional 78,289 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 474,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,015,000 after purchasing an additional 66,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 296.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 85,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,117,000 after purchasing an additional 63,661 shares during the last quarter. 84.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About SJW Group

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.