Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP (NYSE:SBS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP (NYSE:SBS) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $17.92, but opened at $18.61. Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP shares last traded at $18.78, with a volume of 158,628 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.17.

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP (NYSE:SBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.89 billion. Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP had a net margin of 25.62% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Equities research analysts forecast that Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi raised its holdings in Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,752,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,732,000 after acquiring an additional 426,669 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP by 55.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,234,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,213,846 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,730,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,798,000 after purchasing an additional 33,200 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,578,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,103,000 after purchasing an additional 113,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,401,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,079,000 after purchasing an additional 26,125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

About Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP

Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP engages in the provision of water and sewage service. It also offers advisory services on the rational use of water, planning and commercial, and financial and operational management. The company was founded on September 6, 1973 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.