Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Free Report) by 95.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 93,769 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 45,825 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.16% of California Water Service Group worth $5,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in California Water Service Group by 4,565.4% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,053,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,103 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,198,981 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $334,609,000 after purchasing an additional 232,344 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,957,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,823,000. Finally, Arjuna Capital purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,724,000. 82.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
CWT stock opened at $51.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $52.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a fifty-two week low of $43.50 and a fifty-two week high of $56.25.
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.02). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The business had revenue of $299.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. California Water Service Group's payout ratio is currently 32.37%.
Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.67.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CWT
In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.09, for a total value of $30,574.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,280.59. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
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.
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