California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.34 Per Share

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of 0.335 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 20th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is a 11.7% increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

California Water Service Group has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 59 years. California Water Service Group has a payout ratio of 47.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect California Water Service Group to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.7%.

California Water Service Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE CWT traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $44.19. 210,704 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 321,102. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.59. The company has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. California Water Service Group has a one year low of $41.29 and a one year high of $51.63.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $311.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.35 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About California Water Service Group

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end‐to‐end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.