California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Short Interest Up 53.1% in August

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 550,300 shares, a growth of 53.1% from the August 15th total of 359,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 289,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of CWT opened at $54.98 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 0.49. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $55.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.86.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $244.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.25 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 11.94%. California Water Service Group’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,241.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $82,815.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,241.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total transaction of $29,365.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,157.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,874 shares of company stock valued at $202,318 in the last ninety days. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the first quarter worth $670,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the second quarter worth $6,823,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the first quarter worth $535,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 19.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 194,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,021,000 after buying an additional 31,522 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 3,683.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 30,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,564,000 after buying an additional 29,357 shares during the period. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.