Five Water Stocks Hedge Funds Are Betting On

SJW Corp. (NYSE:SJW)

Among the funds that we track, 11 held long positions in SJW Corp. (NYSE:SJW) at the end of the first quarter, versus six funds a quarter earlier. Royce & Associates held 400,400 shares of SJW Corp at the end of June, while Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors disclosed holding almost 258,500 shares in its 13F filing for the end of the second quarter. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has surged by nearly 36% and it currently sports a dividend yield of 2.01%. At the end of July, SJW Corp posted EPS of $0.82 on revenue of $86.9 million for the second quarter, beating the estimates by $0.41 and $11.9 million, respectively.

Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS)

Even more liked by hedge funds was Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS), in which, at the end of March, 11 funds from our database held almost 4% of the stock in aggregate. Matthew Tewksbury’ Stevens Capital Management held around 26,900 shares of Companhia de Saneamento Basico at the end of the second quarter. The stock of the Brazilian company more than doubled since the beginning of the year as Brazil is hosting the Olympic Games in Rio and despite economic and political turmoil in the country. In the last couple of weeks, Janney Montgomery Scott and JPMorgan Chase & Co. both downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ from the previous ‘Buy’ and ‘Overweight’ ratings.

American Water Works Company Inc (NYSE:AWK)

Finally, there’s American Water Works Company Inc (NYSE:AWK), which saw 21 funds among those we track long its stock at the end of the first quarter. Among the investors that reported their equity positions as of the end of June, Louis Navellier’s Navellier & Associates reported ownership of 120,200 shares of American States Water Co.  Shares of American Water Works Company are over 31% in the green year-to-date and sport a dividend yield of 1.91%. The company’s financial results for the second quarter came in mixed, with EPS of $0.77 topping the estimates of $0.73, but revenue of $827 million was $5.9 million lower than expected.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.