Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 1,670 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 79,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $3,606,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,514,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $340,642,000 after purchasing an additional 158,295 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 46,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in California Water Service Group by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CWT. Bank of America started coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of CWT opened at $45.48 on Wednesday. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $41.64 and a 12 month high of $56.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.70%.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.