California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

CWT has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $51.39 on Friday. 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 one year low of $41.29 and a one year high of $52.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $46.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.51.

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

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.00%.

Insider Activity at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $160,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,030,756.50. The trade was a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $48,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Amundi raised its holdings in California Water Service Group by 26.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,470,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,421,000 after acquiring an additional 732,004 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 5,365.1% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 368,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,891,000 after acquiring an additional 361,339 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,349,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 416.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 257,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,696,000 after acquiring an additional 208,061 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 577,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,172,000 after acquiring an additional 130,620 shares during the period. 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.