Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 2,164 Shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,164 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in California Water Service Group were worth $1,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 55.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 161,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,765,000 after acquiring an additional 57,811 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 22,192 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 5,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 24,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 9,894 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CWT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised California Water Service Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE CWT opened at $49.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.85 and its 200-day moving average is $47.86. California Water Service Group has a one year low of $41.64 and a one year high of $56.25.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $222.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.37 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 19.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.70%.

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.