California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $1.00 EPS

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) released its earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The firm had revenue of $270.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group’s quarterly revenue was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS.

California Water Service Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CWT traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 401,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,920. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $43.50 and a 1-year high of $58.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.32. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.21 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 125.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CWT shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. TheStreet cut California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, California Water Service Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.