Thematics Asset Management Sells 54,000 Shares of California Water Service Group $CWT

Thematics Asset Management reduced its stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 35.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 100,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 54,000 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $4,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 3,318.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. 82.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT opened at $45.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.64. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $41.29 and a 52 week high of $51.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.10 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 12.82%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 62.33%.

California Water Service Group Profile

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.