SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) to Issue $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

SJW Group has raised its dividend by an average of 5.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 57 years. SJW Group has a payout ratio of 53.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect SJW Group to earn $2.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.7%.

SJW Group Trading Down 2.4 %

SJW Group stock traded down $1.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.50. The stock had a trading volume of 337,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 165,503. SJW Group has a twelve month low of $51.37 and a twelve month high of $78.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.55.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). SJW Group had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The firm had revenue of $171.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. Analysts expect that SJW Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SJW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded SJW Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.00.

About SJW Group

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.