Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in H2O America $HTO

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) by 14.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 181,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,711 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in H2O America were worth $10,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in H2O America by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 61,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of H2O America by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 21,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of H2O America by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 18,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the period. 84.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on H2O America from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen started coverage on H2O America in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded H2O America from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of H2O America in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on H2O America in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at H2O America

In other H2O America news, major shareholder Atlas Infrastructure Partners bought 2,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $62.03 per share, with a total value of $172,691.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,615,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,284,887.95. The trade was a 0.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

H2O America Stock Performance

Shares of HTO stock opened at $63.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. H2O America has a 12 month low of $43.75 and a 12 month high of $66.05.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $183.29 million for the quarter. H2O America had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 12.87%.H2O America has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.080-3.180 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that H2O America will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. H2O America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.27%.

H2O America 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.