California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

California Water Service Group has increased its dividend by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 58 consecutive years. California Water Service Group has a payout ratio of 47.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect California Water Service Group to earn $2.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CWT traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $47.93. The stock had a trading volume of 401,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,920. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $43.50 and a 52 week high of $58.30. The business's 50-day moving average price is $46.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 53.85 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.00. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The company had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $183.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. California Water Service Group's quarterly revenue was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CWT. TheStreet lowered California Water Service Group from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of California Water Service Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of California Water Service Group to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.25.

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.