California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Sells $82,815.78 in Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,241.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 3.2 %

CWT stock traded up $1.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $51.06. The company had a trading volume of 239,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,355. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $43.50 and a 12 month high of $54.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80 and a beta of 0.48.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.00. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CWT. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,013,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,079,000 after purchasing an additional 872,865 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in California Water Service Group in the 4th quarter worth $28,614,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in California Water Service Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,877,000 after buying an additional 270,786 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 1st quarter worth about $7,957,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in California Water Service Group by 782.3% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 184,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,545,000 after buying an additional 163,160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CWT. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.25.

About California Water Service Group

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.