California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Increases Dividend to $0.34 Per Share

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.335 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 20th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is a 11.7% increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

California Water Service Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 59 consecutive years. California Water Service Group has a payout ratio of 47.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect California Water Service Group to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.7%.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

CWT stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Thursday, hitting $44.15. 258,412 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 323,962. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $41.29 and a 52 week high of $51.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.55.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.17). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 13.61%.The business had revenue of $311.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 29,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,165 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in California Water Service Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $299,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group in the second quarter valued at about $1,153,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 130.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 7.3% in the second quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 751,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,200,000 after acquiring an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.