Analysts Set SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Price Target at $66.00

Shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the four brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.00.

SJW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of SJW Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SJW Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $464,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in SJW Group by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,465,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after purchasing an additional 78,289 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in SJW Group by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

SJW Group Price Performance

NYSE SJW opened at $56.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.58. SJW Group has a 52-week low of $54.39 and a 52-week high of $81.86.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $171.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.23 million. SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.10% and a net margin of 12.68%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that SJW Group will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from SJW Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. SJW Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.93%.

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.