Maven Securities LTD Buys Shares of 27,112 California Water Service Group $CWT

Maven Securities LTD bought a new stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 27,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 3,318.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the third quarter worth $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 109.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $44.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.64. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.29 and a 52-week high of $51.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.10 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 7.67%. California Water Service Group’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.33%.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end?to?end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor?owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.