Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in SJW Group (NYSE:SJW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in SJW Group (NYSE:SJW – Get Rating) by 1,697.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 162,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 153,826 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in SJW Group were worth $13,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 734.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new stake in shares of SJW Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,416,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 19,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 5,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 5,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. 72.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SJW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of SJW Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 12th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of SJW Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $86.00 to $84.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of SJW Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SJW Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.00.

SJW Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:SJW opened at $75.26 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.79 and a 200 day moving average of $77.09. SJW Group has a 52 week low of $55.74 and a 52 week high of $83.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29 and a beta of 0.57.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.09. SJW Group had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The business had revenue of $137.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that SJW Group will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 5th. This is a positive change from SJW Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. SJW Group’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SJW Group news, Director Carl Guardino sold 777 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total value of $59,075.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,079.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Carl Guardino sold 777 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total value of $59,075.31. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,079.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig J. Patla sold 725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.09, for a total transaction of $55,165.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,038 shares in the company, valued at $535,521.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About SJW Group

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SJW Group is a holding company, which through its subsidiaries provides water utility services. It operates through the Water Utility Services and Real Estate Services segments. The Water Utility Services segment offers water utility and utility-related services. The Real Estate Services segment engages in property management and investment activity.