SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in SJW Group (NYSE:SJW)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its position in shares of SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Free Report) by 93.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,929 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 29,425 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in SJW Group were worth $126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SJW. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in SJW Group by 4.2% in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in SJW Group by 4.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in SJW Group by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,387,456 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $143,510,000 after purchasing an additional 61,015 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in SJW Group by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in SJW Group in the 4th quarter worth $129,070,000. 84.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

SJW Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of SJW Group stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Thursday, hitting $53.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 171,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 176,285. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.58. SJW Group has a 52 week low of $51.37 and a 52 week high of $79.48.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.10%. The firm had revenue of $171.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.23 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that SJW Group will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from SJW Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group's dividend payout ratio is 59.93%.

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.