California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,186,602 shares, a decrease of 19.1% from the November 30th total of 1,466,795 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 559,446 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 559,446 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,757,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 19.4% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,276,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,318,000 after buying an additional 369,430 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 5,365.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 368,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,891,000 after acquiring an additional 361,339 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in California Water Service Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,979,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 2nd quarter worth $4,548,000. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 price target on California Water Service Group in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on CWT

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of California Water Service Group stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.30. The company had a trading volume of 218,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,403. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.83. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $41.29 and a 1-year high of $51.63.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $311.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.35 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 13.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.40%.

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.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.

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