California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) VP Michael Luu Sells 740 Shares

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) VP Michael Luu sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total value of $32,952.20. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 23,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,053,357.15. This trade represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $43.87 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $41.29 and a 1-year high of $51.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.63 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. The business 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%. California Water Service Group’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.335 dividend. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CWT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 0.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,337,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,602,000 after purchasing an additional 36,296 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,738,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,634,000 after purchasing an additional 462,394 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC raised 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 buying an additional 60,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,420,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,579,000 after buying an additional 4,613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.