California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Thomas Krummel Sells 3,700 Shares

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Thomas Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $160,210.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,756.50. The trade was a 13.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CWT stock opened at $43.20 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $41.29 and a 1 year high of $50.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.77. 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 company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.51.

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

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CWT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on California Water Service Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.