SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 1,490 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,490 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CWT. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 109.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in California Water Service Group by 90.8% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in California Water Service Group in the second quarter worth approximately $85,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in California Water Service Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 82.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.67.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT opened at $53.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.52. California Water Service Group has a fifty-two week low of $43.50 and a fifty-two week high of $56.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.95.

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

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 44.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’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 value of $29,365.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,157.51. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,665 shares of company stock worth $90,093 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

About California Water Service Group

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.