Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 6,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,198,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,609,000 after purchasing an additional 232,344 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,491,000 after purchasing an additional 25,711 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 4,565.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,053,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031,103 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 2.8% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 693,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,605,000 after purchasing an additional 19,118 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 1.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 572,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,753,000 after purchasing an additional 10,819 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $50.97 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.86. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $43.50 and a 1-year high of $56.25. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.02). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $299.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.37%.

Insider Transactions at California Water Service Group

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total transaction of $30,574.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,280.59. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

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.