Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Buys 2,851 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,851 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $5,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWT. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 5,806 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 129.6% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 13,971 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 12,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CWT. Bank of America began coverage on California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE CWT opened at $46.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.40 and a 200-day moving average of $48.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $41.64 and a 52 week high of $56.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.70%.

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.