Short Interest in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Increases By 23.8%

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 819,100 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the February 13th total of 661,600 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 360,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.25.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in California Water Service Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,514,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $340,642,000 after buying an additional 158,295 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in California Water Service Group by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,689,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,607,000 after buying an additional 79,658 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in California Water Service Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,360,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,670,000 after buying an additional 22,192 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in California Water Service Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 979,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,384,000 after buying an additional 113,622 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in California Water Service Group by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 928,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,073,000 after buying an additional 49,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:CWT opened at $46.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $41.64 and a 1-year high of $56.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.70%.

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.