Bank of America Initiates Coverage on California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Stock analysts at Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.74% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

CWT stock opened at $48.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 0.50. California Water Service Group has a 12-month low of $43.50 and a 12-month high of $56.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.62.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $289.55 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. California Water Service Group’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, VP Michael B. Luu sold 985 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total value of $50,727.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,048,231. The trade was a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CWT. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 4,565.4% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,823,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 135.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 68,914 shares during the last quarter. Arjuna Capital bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in California Water Service Group by 354.9% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 76,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,727,000 after acquiring an additional 59,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

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.