California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $1.00 EPS

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.40) earnings per share. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.93. The stock had a trading volume of 401,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,623. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $43.50 and a 1 year high of $58.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.31.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.