South Dakota Investment Council Takes $1.99 Million Position in H2O America $HTO

South Dakota Investment Council acquired a new stake in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 33,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,989,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in H2O America by 194.9% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of H2O America by 1,020.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of H2O America by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of H2O America by 139.8% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded H2O America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded H2O America from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on H2O America in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on H2O America from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners bought 2,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was bought 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 $286,284,887.95. This represents a 0.06% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

H2O America Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ HTO opened at $61.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.53. H2O America has a twelve month low of $43.75 and a twelve month high of $67.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.35.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. H2O America had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 12.91%.The firm had revenue of $210.47 million during the quarter. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. Research analysts forecast that H2O America will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.19%.

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.