California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the three ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CWT. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 28th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. StockNews.com raised shares of California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. 888 reaffirmed an “upgrade” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.7 %

CWT stock opened at $49.90 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $48.10 and a 52 week high of $66.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.39 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $51.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.74). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $194.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.50 million. On average, analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 4th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ETF Managers Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC now owns 12,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 4.6% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 4,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Humankind Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 5.1% during the first quarter. Humankind Investments LLC now owns 3,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 17,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 6.8% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. 80.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.