SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Sets New 52-Week Low at $53.00

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $53.00 and last traded at $53.28, with a volume of 11670 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SJW shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of SJW Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded SJW Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SJW Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

SJW Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $57.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.09.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). SJW Group had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.10%. The business had revenue of $171.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that SJW Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from SJW Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.93%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SJW Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,243,377 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $367,613,000 after purchasing an additional 211,744 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,447,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $241,728,000 after purchasing an additional 136,778 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,465,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $161,136,000 after purchasing an additional 78,289 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of SJW Group by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,666,038 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $103,977,000 after purchasing an additional 17,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of SJW Group during the 4th quarter worth about $129,070,000. 84.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.