California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $53.02 and last traded at $52.9510, with a volume of 61086 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.79.

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

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of California Water Service Group 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 transaction, the director owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,030,756.50. The trade was a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $48,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $805,904. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 26.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,470,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,421,000 after purchasing an additional 732,004 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 5,365.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 368,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,891,000 after acquiring an additional 361,339 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter worth about $10,349,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 416.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 257,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,696,000 after acquiring an additional 208,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 577,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,172,000 after purchasing an additional 130,620 shares in the last quarter. 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.