California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Short Interest Update

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 408,100 shares, a decrease of 17.3% from the September 15th total of 493,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 295,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

California Water Service Group Stock Up 1.9 %

California Water Service Group stock opened at $52.38 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.75 and a 200-day moving average of $50.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $56.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $244.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.25 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.99, for a total value of $29,409.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,251,411.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,220 shares of company stock valued at $119,503. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CWT. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in California Water Service Group by 4,565.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,053,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031,103 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 40.8% in the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,013,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,079,000 after acquiring an additional 872,865 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,198,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,609,000 after acquiring an additional 232,344 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the first quarter worth about $7,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in California Water Service Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,823,000. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.