SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Free Report) by 26.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 107,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,223 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.34% of SJW Group worth $7,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SJW Group by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 10,218 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of SJW Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 5,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in SJW Group by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,640 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in SJW Group by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 26,160 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,710,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in SJW Group by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,387,456 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $143,510,000 after purchasing an additional 61,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered SJW Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded SJW Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SJW Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

SJW Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE SJW traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 225,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 198,124. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.58. SJW Group has a 12 month low of $54.39 and a 12 month high of $81.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.58.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.10% and a net margin of 12.68%. The company had revenue of $171.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that SJW Group will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. This is a positive change from SJW Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.93%.

About SJW Group

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.