H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.75.

HTO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research raised H2O America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $61.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. Citigroup upgraded H2O America to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research lowered H2O America from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group set a $61.00 price objective on shares of H2O America in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H2O America

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

H2O America Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTO opened at $51.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.49. H2O America has a 1-year low of $43.75 and a 1-year high of $57.17. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $49.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.18.

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

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.