California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Issues Earnings Results

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $299.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.55 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT traded down $1.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.14. 236,758 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 326,297. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.52. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 36.96%.

Insider Transactions at California Water Service Group

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $30,153.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,222,750.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,665 shares of company stock valued at $90,093. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.