KBC Group NV Boosts Holdings in H2O America $HTO

KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) by 41.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 593,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 175,270 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in H2O America were worth $34,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in H2O America by 194.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of H2O America by 1,020.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of H2O America by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of H2O America during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of H2O America by 139.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners purchased 2,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $62.03 per share, with a total value of $172,691.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,615,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,284,887.95. The trade was a 0.06% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on HTO. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on H2O America in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised H2O America from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of H2O America in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of H2O America from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating on shares of H2O America in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, H2O America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.33.

H2O America Price Performance

H2O America stock opened at $64.52 on Tuesday. H2O America has a 52-week low of $43.75 and a 52-week high of $66.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.89 and a 200-day moving average of $56.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 7.31 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. H2O America had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 12.87%.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, analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.27%.

H2O America 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.