California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Lifted to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $57.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $50.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on CWT. UBS Group raised shares of California Water Service Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of California Water Service Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of CWT stock opened at $55.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.86 and a 200-day moving average of $48.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.56. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $43.50 and a 52-week high of $55.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 0.47.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.28. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business had revenue of $244.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.26, for a total transaction of $29,559.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,241,916.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,241.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.26, for a total transaction of $29,559.30. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,318 shares in the company, valued at $1,241,916.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,764 shares of company stock worth $141,785. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,198,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,609,000 after acquiring an additional 232,344 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,013,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,079,000 after acquiring an additional 872,865 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,249,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,993 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 654,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,937,000 after acquiring an additional 95,501 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 613,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,826,000 after acquiring an additional 32,053 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.