Cerity Partners LLC Grows Holdings in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 87.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,691 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CWT. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,175,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,936,000 after buying an additional 479,457 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,877,000 after buying an additional 270,786 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 28.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,867,000 after purchasing an additional 240,944 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 764.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,216,000 after purchasing an additional 116,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 3.1% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,570,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,313,000 after purchasing an additional 47,266 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $48.05 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $43.50 and a 1-year high of $58.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 53.99 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.50 by ($0.98). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $214.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. California Water Service Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TheStreet cut California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on California Water Service Group from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.50.

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.