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

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the three analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on California Water Service Group in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CWT opened at $43.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $44.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.67. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $41.29 and a 1-year high of $51.63.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.17). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 13.61%.The firm had revenue of $311.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.40%.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning grew its position in California Water Service Group by 1.7% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $696,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,475,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.