California Water Service Group (CWT) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is a publicly traded holding company that provides regulated water utility services through its subsidiaries. The company delivers safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater management to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Its principal operating units include California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service and Hawaii Water Service, each responsible for end‐to‐end water supply operations—from source development and treatment to distribution and customer service.

Founded in 1926 as the California Water Service Company, the group has grown to become one of the largest investor‐owned water utilities in the United States by customer count. Headquartered in San Jose, California, CWT serves nearly half a million service connections across urban, suburban and rural communities. The company’s infrastructure portfolio comprises treatment plants, reservoirs, wells, pumping stations and an extensive pipeline network, all maintained to meet rigorous health, safety and environmental regulations.

California Water Service Group emphasizes sustainability, water conservation and community engagement as core elements of its strategy. It invests in advanced metering infrastructure and leak detection systems to optimize resource management, and develops drought‐resilient supply projects to enhance system reliability. The company also offers customer education programs and affordability initiatives designed to support low‐income households. Guided by an experienced board and executive team, CWT focuses on long‐term asset management, regulatory compliance and operational excellence to serve the evolving needs of its service territories.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $45.92 to $47.19
• 50-Day Range: $44.36 to $47.57
• 52-Week Range: $41.64 to $56.25
• Volume: 412,632 shs
• Average Volume: 269,464 shs
• Market Capitalization: $2.74 billion
• P/E Ratio: 20.10
• Dividend Yield: 2.61%
• Price Target: $56.00
• Consensus Rating: Buy

California Water Service Group Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

California Water Service Group scored higher than 94% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 10th out of 97 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.7 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

California Water Service Group has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.33, and is based on 2 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

California Water Service Group has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: -26.35%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for California Water Service Group are expected to decrease by -26.35% in the coming year, from $3.15 to $2.32 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of California Water Service Group is 20.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 269.28.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of California Water Service Group is 20.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 51.04.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

California Water Service Group has a PEG Ratio of 2.24. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

California Water Service Group has a P/B Ratio of 1.65. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.35% of the outstanding shares of California Water Service Group have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

California Water Service Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in California Water Service Group has recently increased by 3.53%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

California Water Service Group pays a meaningful dividend of 2.56%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

California Water Service Group has been increasing its dividend for 59 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of California Water Service Group is 52.40%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, California Water Service Group will have a dividend payout ratio of 51.72% next year. This indicates that California Water Service Group will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Environmental Score: 0.43

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.35% of the outstanding shares of California Water Service Group have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

California Water Service Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in California Water Service Group has recently increased by 3.53%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.51

News Sentiment

California Water Service Group has a news sentiment score of 1.51. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.82 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 8 news articles for California Water Service Group this week, compared to 7 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 2 people have searched for CWT on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -50% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, California Water Service Group insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $55,812.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.73% of the stock of California Water Service Group is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

82.78% of the stock of California Water Service Group is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

CWT Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CWT shares performed this year?

California Water Service Group's stock was trading at $45.33 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, CWT stock has increased by 1.5% and is now trading at $46.02.

How were California Water Service Group's earnings last quarter?

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) issued its quarterly 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. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are California Water Service Group's major shareholders?

California Water Service Group's top institutional investors include State Street Corp (5.34%), Amundi (3.20%), Nuance Investments LLC (2.90%) and Geode Capital Management LLC (2.38%). Insiders that own company stock include Lester A Snow, Thomas M Krummel, Michael B Luu, David B Healey, Robert J Kuta and Michelle R Mortensen.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of California Water Service Group?

Shares of CWT stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of California Water Service Group own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that California Water Service Group investors own include Humana (HUM), American Water Works (AWK), Waste Connections (WCN), Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR), TotalEnergies (TTE), The RMR Group (RMR) and Southern First Bancshares (SFST).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/31/2025
• Record date for 8/22 Dividend: 8/11/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 8/22 Dividend: 8/11/2025
• Dividend Payable: 8/22/2025
• Today: 9/03/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/30/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: UTIL - WATER SPLY
• Sub-Industry: Water Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CWT
• CIK: 1035201
• Web: www.calwatergroup.com
• Phone: (408) 367-8200
• Fax: 831-427-9185
• Employees: 1,278
• Year Founded: 1926

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for California Water Service Group: $56.00
• High Price Target: $57.00
• Low Price Target: $55.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +21.7%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.29
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 20.10
• Forward P/E Ratio: 14.61
• P/E Growth: 2.24
• Net Income: $190.81 million
• Net Margins: 13.71%
• Pretax Margin: 13.74%
• Return on Equity: 8.28%
• Return on Assets: 2.61%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.67
• Current Ratio: 0.53
• Quick Ratio: 0.50

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $990.69 million
• Price / Sales: 2.77
• Cash Flow: $5.36 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.58
• Book Value: $27.82 per share
• Price / Book: 1.65

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 59,581,000
• Free Float: 59,146,000
• Market Cap: $2.74 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.69