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

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 819,100 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the February 13th total of 661,600 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 360,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.25.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 33,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,420 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 12,228 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in California Water Service Group by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

Shares of CWT stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.01. 288,544 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 308,184. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $41.64 and a fifty-two week high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. California Water Service Group's payout ratio is 36.70%.

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.