AQR Capital Management LLC Invests $804,000 in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in California Water Service Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 70,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in California Water Service Group by 17.0% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in California Water Service Group by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 2,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other California Water Service Group news, Director Thomas M. Krummel sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,220 shares of company stock worth $119,503. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

Shares of CWT stock opened at $52.38 on Friday. California Water Service Group has a one year low of $43.50 and a one year high of $56.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.75 and a 200-day moving average of $50.82. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $216.25 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 17.78%. California Water Service Group’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is 44.80%.

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.