H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Given New $63.00 Price Target at Barclays

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $61.00 to $63.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on HTO. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of H2O America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group set a $61.00 target price on H2O America in a research report on Friday, January 9th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of H2O America in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut H2O America from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

H2O America Stock Performance

HTO opened at $58.57 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $53.13 and its 200 day moving average is $50.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.48. H2O America has a 12-month low of $43.75 and a 12-month high of $58.93.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter. H2O America had a net margin of 12.81% and a return on equity of 7.08%. The business had revenue of $194.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.73 million. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

H2O America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H2O America

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of H2O America in the 4th quarter worth $133,834,000. Amundi purchased a new position in H2O America in the third quarter worth about $105,965,000. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in H2O America in the fourth quarter worth about $70,830,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in H2O America by 123.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,368,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,027,000 after acquiring an additional 754,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in H2O America by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,359,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,615,000 after purchasing an additional 59,799 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

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.