California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Holdings Raised by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CWT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,877,000 after purchasing an additional 270,786 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,175,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,936,000 after purchasing an additional 479,457 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,570,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,313,000 after purchasing an additional 47,266 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,867,000 after purchasing an additional 240,944 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,024,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,488,000 after purchasing an additional 43,285 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CWT stock opened at $47.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $43.50 and a 1 year high of $58.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 53.85 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company’s revenue was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.40) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CWT. UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.25.

California Water Service Group 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.