California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Short Interest Update

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 819,100 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the February 13th total of 661,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 360,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CWT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,998,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,514,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $340,642,000 after buying an additional 158,295 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in California Water Service Group by 91.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 308,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,994,000 after buying an additional 147,043 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 979,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,384,000 after buying an additional 113,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in California Water Service Group by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 634,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,747,000 after acquiring an additional 110,962 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CWT has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT opened at $46.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.92. California Water Service Group has a fifty-two week low of $41.64 and a fifty-two week high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $222.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.70%.

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.