Short Interest in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Decreases By 17.3%

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) saw a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 408,100 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the September 15th total of 493,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 295,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insider Activity at California Water Service Group

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total transaction of $30,574.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,280.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,665 shares of company stock worth $90,093. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CWT. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the 1st quarter valued at $670,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the second quarter worth about $6,823,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the first quarter valued at about $535,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 194,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,021,000 after purchasing an additional 31,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 182,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,486,000 after purchasing an additional 18,388 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $50.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CWT opened at $53.79 on Wednesday. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $56.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.95. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $244.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.25 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.80%.

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.