Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Decreases Position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lowered its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 9.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 45,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,827 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $2,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CWT. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 1st quarter worth about $670,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,823,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in California Water Service Group in the first quarter worth approximately $535,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 194,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,021,000 after acquiring an additional 31,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 3,683.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 30,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 29,357 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total value of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,280.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total value of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,280.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the sale, the director now 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 have sold a total of 3,874 shares of company stock valued at $202,318 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.8 %

CWT stock opened at $55.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $53.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.92.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $244.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.25 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

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.