New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 98,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,444,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.16% of California Water Service Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CWT. Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of California Water Service Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $102,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in California Water Service Group during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, California Water Service Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of CWT stock opened at $48.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.69 and a 200-day moving average of $48.55. California Water Service Group has a 12-month low of $41.64 and a 12-month high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is 36.70%.

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.