Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Short Interest Update

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) saw a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 228,600 shares, a growth of 29.3% from the May 15th total of 176,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 52,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Artesian Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Artesian Resources during the first quarter worth $41,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 10,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 545,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,248,000 after acquiring an additional 14,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Artesian Resources by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 119,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.37% of the company’s stock.

Artesian Resources Stock Performance

ARTNA stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $34.01. 19,022 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,948. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.47. Artesian Resources has a 12 month low of $33.34 and a 12 month high of $49.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $349.96 million, a P/E ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.21.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The firm had revenue of $24.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.00 million. On average, analysts forecast that Artesian Resources will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.296 dividend. This is a positive change from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Artesian Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.41%.

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.