California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Hits New 1-Year High at $55.56

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $55.56 and last traded at $55.50, with a volume of 369950 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $50.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 0.9 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.28. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $244.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 44.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total value of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,280.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $82,815.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,241.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total transaction of $30,574.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,280.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,874 shares of company stock worth $202,318. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CWT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 613,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,826,000 after purchasing an additional 32,053 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,249,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,993 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter worth $28,614,000. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

About California Water Service Group

California Water Service Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Texas. The company is involved in the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, as well as for fire protection services.