13,590 Shares in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 13,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,050,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 45.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 107,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,356,000 after acquiring an additional 33,634 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 4,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 54,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after acquiring an additional 12,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in California Water Service Group by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CWT shares. 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. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $44.40 on Monday. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $44.11 and a 1 year high of $61.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 49.89 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $214.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.41 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.09%. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.84%.

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.