Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 600 Shares of California Water Service Group $CWT

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CWT. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in shares of California Water Service Group by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,017,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,769,000 after purchasing an additional 527,343 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter valued at $21,562,000. Beck Bode LLC bought a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter valued at $17,728,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 204.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 315,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,298,000 after acquiring an additional 211,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in California Water Service Group in the 1st quarter valued at $9,692,000. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CWT. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Water Service Group in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of California Water Service Group from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

California Water Service Group stock opened at $47.29 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.91. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $41.64 and a twelve month high of $54.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.25. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 13.71% and a return on equity of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $264.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.40%.

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.