New York State Teachers Retirement System Makes New Investment in H2O America $HTO

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in H2O America, buying 21,107 shares valued at about $1.03 million. Institutional ownership remains high, with investors holding roughly 84.29% of the stock.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed but leans positive: the stock currently has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a $61.83 average price target. Recent analyst actions included upgrades, reiterated buys, and one downgrade to strong sell.
• H2O America beat its latest quarterly EPS estimate, reporting $0.50 per share versus $0.48 expected, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, implying a 3.0% yield.

New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 21,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,034,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.06% of H2O America at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,554,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. US Bancorp DE bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of H2O America in the third quarter valued at about $100,000. 84.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HTO. Weiss Ratings raised shares of H2O America from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of H2O America in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of H2O America from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of H2O America in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.83.

H2O America Stock Performance

HTO stock opened at $57.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $57.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.72. H2O America has a 52 week low of $43.75 and a 52 week high of $61.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 0.35.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. H2O America had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The business had revenue of $183.29 million for the quarter. H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that H2O America will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

H2O America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. H2O America's dividend payout ratio is 60.27%.

Insider Activity

In other H2O America news, major shareholder Atlas Holdings Ltd Gip purchased 50,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.06 per share, for a total transaction of $2,975,738.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,582,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $270,640,619.14. The trade was a 1.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners purchased 50,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.06 per share, for a total transaction of $2,975,738.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,582,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at $270,640,619.14. This represents a 1.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.

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