Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp (NYSE:SBS) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• Sabesp shares surged at the open, rising from a previous close of $5.38 to $6.23 before last trading at $6.2860 on heavy volume of approximately 7.9 million shares.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautiously positive: two analysts rate the stock Buy and one rates it Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, although several firms recently downgraded their recommendations.
• The company missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.07 EPS versus $0.09 expected and revenue of $1.16 billion versus $1.23 billion estimated. Institutional ownership stands at 10.62%, with several investment managers increasing their positions.

Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp (NYSE:SBS - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $5.38, but opened at $6.23. Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp shares last traded at $6.2860, with a volume of 7,942,551 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SBS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.00.

Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.08.

Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp (NYSE:SBS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp had a net margin of 23.93% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp by 396.7% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,198,987 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,756,304 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp by 10.8% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,091,869 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,313,000 after purchasing an additional 106,469 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 722,303 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $21,979,000 after purchasing an additional 5,109 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp by 5.3% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 421,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,870,000 after purchasing an additional 21,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp by 502.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,149,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,646,000 after purchasing an additional 958,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 10.62% of the company's stock.

Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp Company Profile

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo, known as Sabesp, is a Brazilian water and wastewater services company headquartered in São Paulo. Its principal activities include the collection, treatment and distribution of drinking water, as well as the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage.

Sabesp supplies residential, commercial, industrial and public-sector customers. The company also operates and maintains water-production, distribution and wastewater-treatment infrastructure, and provides related services such as connections, metering and customer support.

Established in 1973, Sabesp has historically served hundreds of municipalities in the state of São Paulo, including the São Paulo metropolitan region, and has been one of Brazil's largest sanitation companies by population served.

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