California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $44.86 and traded as high as $49.65. California Water Service Group shares last traded at $48.7550, with a volume of 549,574 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CWT shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded California Water Service Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on California Water Service Group in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.86. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.38, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.53.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $214.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.27 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 7.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.00%.

Insider Activity

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $48,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,904. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total value of $160,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,030,756.50. This trade represents a 13.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 26.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,470,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,421,000 after purchasing an additional 732,004 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in California Water Service Group by 5,365.1% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 368,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,891,000 after purchasing an additional 361,339 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter worth $10,349,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 416.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 257,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,696,000 after buying an additional 208,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 29.2% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 577,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,172,000 after buying an additional 130,620 shares in the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

California Water Service Group Company Profile

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end‐to‐end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count.