California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

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 paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

California Water Service Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 58 consecutive years. California Water Service Group has a payout ratio of 47.1% meaning 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 Stock Down 0.7 %

California Water Service Group stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.73. The stock had a trading volume of 15,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,098. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.32. 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 capitalization of $2.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.99 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $270.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.85 million. California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 6.53%. California Water Service Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on California Water Service Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded California Water Service Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.