H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

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

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HTO. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on H2O America in a report on Friday, March 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of H2O America in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on H2O America from $63.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.83.

H2O America Stock Performance

NASDAQ HTO opened at $56.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 0.70. H2O America has a 1-year low of $43.75 and a 1-year high of $61.87.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last released 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. The business had revenue of $183.29 million during the quarter. H2O America had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 12.87%.H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. H2O America’s payout ratio is 60.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H2O America news, major shareholder Atlas Holdings Ltd Gip acquired 50,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.06 per share, for a total transaction of $2,975,738.10. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,582,469 shares in the company, valued at $270,640,619.14. The trade was a 1.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners acquired 50,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.06 per share, with a total value of $2,975,738.10. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,582,469 shares in the company, valued at $270,640,619.14. This trade represents a 1.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H2O America

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in H2O America by 3,753.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 9,383 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of H2O America by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $503,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC lifted its holdings in shares of H2O America by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 12,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,945 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new stake in shares of H2O America in the 1st quarter worth $4,853,000. Finally, Keybank National Association OH purchased a new stake in shares of H2O America in the 1st quarter worth $235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

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.