Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. Buys New Position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in California Water Service Group by 70.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,450,000 after buying an additional 26,299 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 55.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 161,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,765,000 after purchasing an additional 57,811 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 297.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 22,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 16,966 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $588,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,559,000 after purchasing an additional 24,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CWT. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.5 %

California Water Service Group stock opened at $47.51 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.21. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.64 and a 52-week high of $56.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $222.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.37 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is currently 36.70%.

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.