Robert W. Baird Boosts California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Price Target to $55.00

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) had its price target raised by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $52.00 to $55.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 14.75% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on CWT. TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.25.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $47.93 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $43.50 and a 52 week high of $58.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $270.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.42%. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.40) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in California Water Service Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,614,000. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,175,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,936,000 after purchasing an additional 479,457 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,877,000 after purchasing an additional 270,786 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,867,000 after acquiring an additional 240,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 782.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 184,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,545,000 after acquiring an additional 163,160 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.