H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on HTO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on H2O America from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on H2O America in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of H2O America in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, H2O America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

H2O America Price Performance

Shares of HTO stock opened at $63.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. H2O America has a 52-week low of $43.75 and a 52-week high of $67.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 0.34.

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

H2O America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners purchased 2,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $62.03 per share, with a total value of $172,691.52. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,615,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,284,887.95. This represents a 0.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTO. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in H2O America in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America during the second quarter worth about $1,805,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America during the second quarter worth about $10,756,000. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of H2O America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $446,000. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of H2O America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,594,000. 84.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

H2O America Company 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.