California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

17 Mar 2026, 18:42 by Michael Walen · The Markets Daily

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 1,261,100 shares, an increase of 24.2% from the February 12th total of 1,015,049 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 404,230 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 404,230 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 3,318.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group in the third quarter worth $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 109.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in California Water Service Group during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.00.

View Our Latest Stock Report on CWT

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT traded down $0.63 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.40. 202,219 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 373,612. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.29 and a 52-week high of $51.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.06 and a 200 day moving average of $45.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.25. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 12.82%.The company had revenue of $265.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 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 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.33%.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.