California Water Service Group $CWT Stock Holdings Increased by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,622 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.30% of California Water Service Group worth $8,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CWT. Amundi grew its stake in California Water Service Group by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,907,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,386,000 after buying an additional 16,346 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,764,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,971,000 after buying an additional 35,844 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,417,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,458,000 after purchasing an additional 14,183 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 751,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,200,000 after buying an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 706,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,126,000 after purchasing an additional 45,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE CWT opened at $45.53 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $44.88 and its 200 day moving average is $45.51. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $41.29 and a twelve month high of $51.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.10 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 7.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.00.

About California Water Service Group

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.