California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) PT Raised to $55.00

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) had its price objective increased by Robert W. Baird from $52.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 14.46% from the company’s current price.

CWT has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised shares of 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.25.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of CWT stock opened at $48.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.32. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $43.50 and a 1-year high of $58.30. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.99 and a beta of 0.49. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CWT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,877,000 after purchasing an additional 270,786 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,175,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,936,000 after buying an additional 479,457 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,570,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,313,000 after buying an additional 47,266 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,249,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 28.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,867,000 after acquiring an additional 240,944 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

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.