California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $1.00 EPS

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. The business’s revenue was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.40) earnings per share.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT traded down $0.12 on Friday, reaching $47.93. 401,414 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 366,920. California Water Service Group has a fifty-two week low of $43.50 and a fifty-two week high of $58.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $46.10 and its 200-day moving average is $48.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 54.21 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 125.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on CWT. UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.25.

About California Water Service Group

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.