California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) released its 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. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $299.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $50.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49 and a beta of 0.49. 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 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.48.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.37%.

Insider Activity at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $30,153.15. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,750.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 1,665 shares of company stock worth $90,093 in the last 90 days. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group has an average 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.