H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.3333.

Several analysts have recently commented on HTO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded H2O America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research upgraded H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. TD Cowen started coverage on H2O America in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on H2O America from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised H2O America from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H2O America news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners acquired 2,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $62.03 per share, for a total transaction of $172,691.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 4,615,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,284,887.95. This represents a 0.06% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in H2O America in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in H2O America during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,609,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in H2O America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,305,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new stake in H2O America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,556,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group purchased a new stake in shares of H2O America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,092,000. 84.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

H2O America Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:HTO opened at $63.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.95. H2O America has a 12 month low of $43.75 and a 12 month high of $66.05.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. H2O America had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm had revenue of $183.29 million during the quarter. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. Analysts expect that H2O America will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.27%.

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.