Bank of America Begins Coverage on SJW Group (NYSE:SJW)

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $65.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of SJW Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SJW Group has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $62.67.

SJW Group Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of SJW Group stock opened at $58.38 on Friday. SJW Group has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $70.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.54. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.63.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.10% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $176.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.10 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SJW Group will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SJW Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. SJW Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.15%.

Institutional Trading of SJW Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SJW. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of SJW Group by 184.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc acquired a new position in shares of SJW Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of SJW Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 576.5% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in SJW Group by 87.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

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.