California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on CWT. TheStreet lowered shares of California Water Service Group from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $54.25.

California Water Service Group Stock Up 1.0 %

CWT stock opened at $48.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.31. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $43.50 and a 52-week high of $58.30.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $270.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.80%.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in California Water Service Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,877,000 after acquiring an additional 270,786 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in California Water Service Group by 28.3% in the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,175,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,936,000 after acquiring an additional 479,457 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,570,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,313,000 after buying an additional 47,266 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 10,993 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,867,000 after buying an additional 240,944 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.