Brokerages Set H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) PT at $56.50

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTO. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of H2O America from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on H2O America in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Trading of H2O America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTO. Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America during the third quarter worth $105,965,000. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in H2O America during the third quarter valued at $64,063,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in H2O America during the third quarter valued at $31,737,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in H2O America during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,753,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in H2O America during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,313,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

H2O America Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ HTO opened at $47.08 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.64. H2O America has a 1 year low of $44.91 and a 1 year high of $57.17. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.54.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.10. H2O America had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The firm had revenue of $240.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.27 million. On average, research analysts forecast that H2O America will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

H2O America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. H2O America’s payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

About H2O America

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.