SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Now Covered by Bank of America

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $65.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SJW Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.67.

SJW Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SJW opened at $58.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.55. SJW Group has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $70.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $176.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.10 million. SJW Group had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 7.10%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SJW Group will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SJW Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. SJW Group’s dividend payout ratio is 60.15%.

Institutional Trading of SJW Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 3.3% in 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 period. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 17.5% in the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,565,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,877,000 after purchasing an additional 233,601 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 724,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,363,000 after purchasing an additional 27,301 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 474,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,015,000 after purchasing an additional 66,238 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 1.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 339,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,434,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

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.