Teton Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 20,060 California Water Service Group $CWT

Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CWT. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,475,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

California Water Service Group stock opened at $45.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.51. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $41.29 and a 1 year high of $51.63.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $265.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.10 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 7.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

California Water Service Group 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.