Northstar Asset Management Inc. Sells 11,788 Shares of California Water Service Group $CWT

Northstar Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 48,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,788 shares during the period. Northstar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $2,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CWT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $523,255,000. Nuance Investments LLC bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the second quarter worth approximately $53,324,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the second quarter worth approximately $39,285,000. Amundi grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 26.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,470,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,421,000 after purchasing an additional 732,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in California Water Service Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,642,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CWT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.37, for a total value of $186,369.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,638.48. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

NYSE CWT opened at $50.47 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $41.29 and a twelve month high of $53.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.72.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $308.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $283.50 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 12.63%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 60.36%.

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.