SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the three ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.00.

SJW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on SJW Group in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered SJW Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of SJW Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SJW. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in SJW Group by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,565,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,877,000 after buying an additional 233,601 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SJW Group by 2,491.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 113,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,169,000 after acquiring an additional 109,390 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of SJW Group by 29.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 212,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,337,000 after acquiring an additional 48,200 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,424,000. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its position in SJW Group by 144.6% during the second quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 64,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,490,000 after purchasing an additional 38,044 shares during the period. 84.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SJW Group Price Performance

SJW stock opened at $54.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.92. SJW Group has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $70.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.62.

SJW Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. SJW Group’s payout ratio is 57.97%.

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.