New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 5,547 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,547 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of California Water Service Group worth $2,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CWT. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 58.6% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in California Water Service Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 64.4% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CWT. TheStreet cut shares of California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of California Water Service Group from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of CWT opened at $44.40 on Tuesday. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $43.74 and a 52 week high of $59.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.89 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS 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 company had revenue of $214.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.09%. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 125.84%.

California Water Service Group 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.