California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $50.45 and last traded at $49.91, with a volume of 184 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CWT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $45.26 and its 200-day moving average is $44.99. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.51.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $214.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.27 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.06% and a net margin of 11.77%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 67.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total value of $160,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,030,756.50. This trade represents a 13.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total value of $48,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,904. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in California Water Service Group by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 277,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,723,000 after buying an additional 35,627 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,346,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $318,322,000 after purchasing an additional 34,155 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 4.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,404,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,444,000 after acquiring an additional 59,404 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,825,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,094,000 after acquiring an additional 60,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maven Securities LTD purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,244,000. 82.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.