Insider Selling: California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Director Sells 1,200 Shares of Stock

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) Director Lester A. Snow sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.51, for a total value of $55,812.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $1,225,491.99. This trade represents a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of CWT stock traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $46.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 311,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,909. 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 capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.66. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $48.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.88. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $203.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. California Water Service Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On California Water Service Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in California Water Service Group by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,851 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of California Water Service Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,360,158 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $61,670,000 after purchasing an additional 22,192 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,550 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 5,806 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in California Water Service Group by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 62,044 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,812,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter worth $37,998,000. 82.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CWT shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised California Water Service Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen raised California Water Service Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on California Water Service Group from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.