JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires Shares of 216,747 H2O America $HTO

JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 216,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,556,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in H2O America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 52,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,554,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of H2O America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. US Bancorp DE bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of H2O America in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $157,000. 84.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HTO shares. Citigroup raised shares of H2O America to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group set a $61.00 price target on H2O America in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on H2O America in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research upgraded H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

H2O America Stock Up 0.1%

H2O America stock opened at $57.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. H2O America has a one year low of $43.75 and a one year high of $59.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.87 and a 200 day moving average of $50.74.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. H2O America had a net margin of 12.81% and a return on equity of 7.08%. The firm had revenue of $194.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.73 million. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. H2O America’s payout ratio is currently 60.27%.

H2O America 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.