California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Reaches New 12-Month High at $55.56

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $55.56 and last traded at $55.50, with a volume of 369950 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $54.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.28. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The company had revenue of $244.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. California Water Service Group’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,280.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,280.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,241.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,874 shares of company stock valued at $202,318 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,198,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,609,000 after acquiring an additional 232,344 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,013,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,079,000 after acquiring an additional 872,865 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,491,000 after acquiring an additional 25,711 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 4,565.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,053,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 693,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,605,000 after acquiring an additional 19,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

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.