Macquarie Group Ltd. Has $889,000 Stock Position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Macquarie Group Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Rating) by 38.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,631 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CWT. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in California Water Service Group by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $90,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in California Water Service Group by 559.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in California Water Service Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CWT. UBS Group began coverage on California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, November 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on California Water Service Group to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 1.7 %

CWT opened at $54.67 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.80. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $48.46 and a 1-year high of $66.12.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.13. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $200.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.14 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This is a boost from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.09%.

Insider Activity at California Water Service Group

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $30,433.41. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,636 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,190.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About California Water Service Group

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California Water Service Group is a holding company, which engages in provision of water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii through its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The firm 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.