California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Stake Lowered by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC reduced its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 33.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,013 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,559,000 after purchasing an additional 24,275 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,736,000 after purchasing an additional 11,205 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 648,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,392,000 after purchasing an additional 36,142 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 634,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,747,000 after purchasing an additional 110,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 288,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,097,000 after purchasing an additional 11,328 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Stock Up 2.5 %

CWT stock opened at $47.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.64 and a 52-week high of $56.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $222.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.70%.

About California Water Service Group

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.