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

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

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CWT traded down $0.12 on Friday, reaching $47.93. 401,414 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 366,920. California Water Service Group has a 52 week low of $43.50 and a 52 week high of $58.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.21 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.32.

California Water Service Group Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.25.

About California Water Service Group

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.