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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of CWT traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.93. 398,474 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 365,403. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.32. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $43.50 and a 52-week high of $58.30. The company 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. California Water Service Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird upped 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 research note on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group has an average 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.