SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

SJW Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 57 consecutive years. SJW Group has a dividend payout ratio of 53.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SJW Group to earn $2.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.7%.

SJW Group Price Performance

Shares of SJW stock traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $53.50. 337,252 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 165,503. SJW Group has a fifty-two week low of $51.37 and a fifty-two week high of $78.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $55.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.55. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last announced its 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). SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $171.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SJW Group will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SJW. StockNews.com upgraded shares of SJW Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SJW Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.00.

SJW Group 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.