California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

California Water Service Group stock opened at $51.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.85. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $43.50 and a 52 week high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $299.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.55 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 32.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, VP Michael B. Luu sold 985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total value of $50,727.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,048,231. This trade represents a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total value of $30,574.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,280.59. This trade represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CWT. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 4.6% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 6,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 12,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 255.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 8.4% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.