Blue Trust Inc. Has $27,000 Stock Holdings in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 255.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $27,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 109.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 90.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in California Water Service Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $85,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the third quarter worth $119,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in California Water Service Group during the second quarter worth $127,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of CWT stock opened at $50.14 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $43.50 and a 1 year high of $56.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55 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 (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $299.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.55 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $30,153.15. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,750.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,665 shares of company stock valued at $90,093 in the last 90 days. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.