Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Has $574,000 Stock Holdings in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,559,000 after acquiring an additional 24,275 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,736,000 after acquiring an additional 11,205 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 648,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,392,000 after acquiring an additional 36,142 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 634,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,747,000 after acquiring an additional 110,962 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 288,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,097,000 after acquiring an additional 11,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CWT shares. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Bank of America started coverage on 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE CWT opened at $46.87 on Wednesday. California Water Service Group has a 12 month low of $41.64 and a 12 month high of $56.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 36.70%.

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.