Legal & General Group Plc Takes $34.79 Million Position in H2O America $HTO

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 571,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,792,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HTO. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in H2O America by 194.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of H2O America by 1,020.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of H2O America by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H2O America during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of H2O America from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of H2O America in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $70.00 price objective on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

Insider Activity at H2O America

In related news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners acquired 2,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $62.03 per share, with a total value of $172,691.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,615,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,284,887.95. This trade represents a 0.06% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

H2O America Stock Up 0.7%

H2O America stock opened at $63.55 on Friday. H2O America has a 1-year low of $43.75 and a 1-year high of $67.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 0.34.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. H2O America had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 12.91%.The company had revenue of $210.47 million for the quarter. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that H2O America will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio is 62.19%.

H2O America Profile

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.