Versor Investments LP Makes New Investment in California Water Service Group $CWT

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CWT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 8.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 21.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 311,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,095,000 after purchasing an additional 54,277 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the first quarter worth $5,979,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 432.4% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 27,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 22,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 16.4% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 4,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at California Water Service Group

In other news, VP Michael S. Mares, Jr. sold 3,892 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $171,248.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,100. The trade was a 31.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael B. Luu sold 740 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total value of $32,952.20. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,053,357.15. The trade was a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on California Water Service Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $43.34 on Thursday. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $41.29 and a twelve month high of $50.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $45.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.97.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $214.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.27 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 7.06%. California Water Service Group’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is currently 67.00%.

California Water Service Group Profile

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end‐to‐end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.