Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New Investment in California Water Service Group $CWT

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $574,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ketron Financial acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $299,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in California Water Service Group by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,337,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,602,000 after acquiring an additional 36,296 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in California Water Service Group by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 954,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,347,000 after acquiring an additional 57,170 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

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

California Water Service Group Price Performance

NYSE CWT opened at $51.34 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $41.29 and a 12 month high of $51.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 25.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

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

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is currently 67.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.