California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $1.00 EPS

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

CWT stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 401,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,623. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $46.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. California Water Service Group has a 1 year low of $43.50 and a 1 year high of $58.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 0.49.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TheStreet downgraded California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.