California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Announces $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.335 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, August 21st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th.

California Water Service Group has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 59 years. California Water Service Group has a dividend payout ratio of 52.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect California Water Service Group to earn $2.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.9%.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:CWT opened at $51.63 on Thursday. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $41.29 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $47.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.91.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $308.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.50 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 7.06%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

About California Water Service Group

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.