California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Upgraded to "Neutral" at UBS Group

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $49.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock. UBS Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.64% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on California Water Service Group from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet cut California Water Service Group from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.50.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of CWT traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.95. 421,663 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 329,527. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. California Water Service Group has a 12-month low of $44.83 and a 12-month high of $61.59. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.80 and a beta of 0.49. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $46.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.56.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.50 by ($0.98). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The business had revenue of $214.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.41 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of California Water Service Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 28.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,096,314 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,867,000 after buying an additional 240,944 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,099,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $335,877,000 after buying an additional 270,786 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 4.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,024,905 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,488,000 after buying an additional 43,285 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 51.7% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 32,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 11,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in California Water Service Group by 52.3% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,637 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 14,646 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.