Key Points
- VP Michael Mares Jr. sold 3,892 shares on March 20 at an average price of $44, cutting his holding by 31.34% to 8,525 shares (about $375,100), per an SEC filing.
- Quarterly results beat expectations: the company reported EPS of $0.61 versus a $0.36 consensus and revenue of $265.61M versus $239.10M, though revenue was down about 1% year-over-year.
- Dividend raised and analyst view: the quarterly dividend was increased to $0.335 (annualized $1.34, yield ~3.1%), and the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a $55 price target.
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) VP Michael Luu sold 740 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total value of $32,952.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 23,655 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,053,357.15. This trade represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.
California Water Service Group Price Performance
Shares of CWT stock opened at $43.87 on Thursday. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $41.29 and a 12 month high of $51.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $239.10 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 12.82%.California Water Service Group's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.
California Water Service Group Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $0.335 dividend. This is a boost from California Water Service Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. California Water Service Group's payout ratio is presently 62.33%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CWT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,346,457 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $318,322,000 after buying an additional 34,155 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 36,296 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,738,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $118,634,000 after buying an additional 462,394 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in California Water Service Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,825,390 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $79,094,000 after acquiring an additional 60,931 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in California Water Service Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,420,950 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $61,579,000 after acquiring an additional 4,613 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.00.
View Our Latest Stock Report on California Water Service Group
California Water Service Group Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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