Thomas Krummel Sells 3,700 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Thomas Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $160,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,030,756.50. This represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $43.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $41.29 and a twelve month high of $50.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.77.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $214.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.27 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the third quarter worth about $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 291.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.