California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $51.00 and last traded at $50.9470, with a volume of 147560 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.51.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $214.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. On average, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total value of $160,210.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,756.50. This represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total value of $48,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,316 shares in the company, valued at $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CWT. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,475,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 67.9% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in California Water Service Group by 109.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in California Water Service Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 32,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,393,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 63,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,730,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Company 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.