Man Group plc Purchases New Stake in H2O America $HTO

Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 26,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,594,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in H2O America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $431,857,000. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H2O America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $133,834,000. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of H2O America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $105,965,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,830,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in H2O America by 123.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,368,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,027,000 after acquiring an additional 754,715 shares during the last quarter. 84.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners acquired 2,784 shares of H2O America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $62.03 per share, for a total transaction of $172,691.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,615,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,284,887.95. The trade was a 0.06% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

H2O America Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HTO opened at $63.45 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 7.35 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.25. H2O America has a one year low of $43.75 and a one year high of $67.09.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $210.47 million for the quarter. H2O America had a net margin of 12.91% and a return on equity of 6.65%. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. Research analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays raised their target price on H2O America from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded H2O America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on H2O America in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Finally, BTIG Research set a $70.00 price objective on H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.67.

H2O America 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.