California Water Service Group (CWT) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) is scheduled to release its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect California Water Service Group to post earnings of $0.21 per share for the quarter. Persons that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by ($0.98). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The business had revenue of $214.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect California Water Service Group to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of CWT opened at $46.23 on Wednesday. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $58.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $46.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 51.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is currently 125.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CWT. TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.50.

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.