H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) Short Interest Update

by · The Cerbat Gem

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,200,349 shares, an increase of 24.3% from the November 30th total of 966,012 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 438,392 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 438,392 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in H2O America during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. US Bancorp DE bought a new position in shares of H2O America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of H2O America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $100,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of H2O America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $157,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in H2O America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Institutional investors own 84.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on HTO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of H2O America in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of H2O America in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, H2O America has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.50.

Get Our Latest Research Report on HTO

H2O America Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTO traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.01. 65,263 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 284,929. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $47.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.53. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.50. H2O America has a 12-month low of $43.75 and a 12-month high of $57.17.

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.10. H2O America had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The business had revenue of $240.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.27 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that H2O America will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H2O America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. H2O America’s payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

About H2O America

(Get Free Report)

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.

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