Insider Selling: California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Sells 1,100 Shares of Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Lester Snow sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total value of $48,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

California Water Service Group Stock Up 1.5%

California Water Service Group stock traded up $0.65 on Wednesday, hitting $44.15. 729,836 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 450,470. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.70. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $41.29 and a 1 year high of $50.44.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.18). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 7.06%. The company had revenue of $214.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. California Water Service Group’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CWT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in California Water Service Group by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,294,000 after buying an additional 3,810 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in California Water Service Group by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 311,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,095,000 after buying an additional 54,277 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter worth about $5,979,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in California Water Service Group by 432.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 27,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 22,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in California Water Service Group by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 4,055 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CWT shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on California Water Service Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Company 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.