Michael Luu Sells 740 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) VP Michael Luu sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total transaction of $32,952.20. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,655 shares in the company, valued at $1,053,357.15. This represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of CWT stock opened at $44.28 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.28. California Water Service Group has a fifty-two week low of $41.29 and a fifty-two week high of $51.63.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 7.67%. The company had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of 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 lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,475,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

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.