California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the three ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

CWT has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of California Water Service Group from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in California Water Service Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 33,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in California Water Service Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its position in California Water Service Group by 6.6% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in California Water Service Group by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in California Water Service Group by 1.0% during the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 38,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 0.8%

California Water Service Group stock opened at $47.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $41.64 and a 1 year high of $56.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.21.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The firm had revenue of $203.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share 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 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.63%.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.