California Water Service Group (CWT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.28 on May 17th

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

California Water Service Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 58 years. California Water Service Group has a dividend payout ratio of 47.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect California Water Service Group to earn $2.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

California Water Service Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CWT traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.99. 48,854 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 362,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. California Water Service Group has a twelve month low of $43.50 and a twelve month high of $58.30. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 54.21 and a beta of 0.49. The firm 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 (NYSE:CWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.00. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. The business had revenue of $270.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TheStreet lowered shares of California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 9th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.