California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $53.02 and last traded at $52.9510, with a volume of 61086 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CWT. Weiss Ratings upgraded California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on California Water Service Group in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $47.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.91.

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 $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $308.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $283.50 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.06% and a net margin of 11.77%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $48,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $160,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,030,756.50. This trade represents a 13.45% 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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