California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday.

CWT has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of California Water Service Group from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:CWT opened at $46.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $41.64 and a 12 month high of $56.25. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.72.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $203.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.51, for a total transaction of $55,812.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,225,491.99. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,029,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $146,824,000 after purchasing an additional 67,002 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,017,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,769,000 after purchasing an additional 527,343 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,689,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,607,000 after purchasing an additional 79,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,360,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,670,000 after purchasing an additional 22,192 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.