Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Short Interest Down 7.6% in August

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 101,500 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the August 15th total of 109,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 44,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARTNA. Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in Artesian Resources by 28.0% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 55,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,067,000 after acquiring an additional 12,115 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Artesian Resources by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 240,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,116,000 after purchasing an additional 6,083 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Artesian Resources in the fourth quarter worth $280,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Artesian Resources by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 50,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Artesian Resources in a research note on Sunday, August 20th. They set a “sell” rating for the company.

Artesian Resources Price Performance

Shares of Artesian Resources stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.50. 30,880 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 50,281. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.36. Artesian Resources has a 52 week low of $44.37 and a 52 week high of $63.00. The firm has a market cap of $477.56 million, a P/E ratio of 27.04 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $25.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.00 million. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 16.71% and a return on equity of 8.39%. Research analysts forecast that Artesian Resources will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Artesian Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.284 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Artesian Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 66.28%.

About Artesian Resources

Artesian Resources Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides water, wastewater, and other services in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The company distributes and sells water to residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, municipal, and utility customers, as well as for public and private fire protection in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; and offers wastewater collection, treatment infrastructure, and wastewater services to customers in Delaware.