California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Lester Snow Sells 1,100 Shares of Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Lester Snow sold 1,100 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $48,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

CWT opened at $44.15 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $41.29 and a 52 week high of $50.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.51.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.18). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.06% and a net margin of 11.77%.The business had revenue of $214.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. California Water Service Group’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 67.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CWT. Weiss Ratings raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CWT. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

About California Water Service Group

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.