MDU Resources Group, Inc. (MDU) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 12th

MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE:MDU) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th.

MDU Resources Group has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. MDU Resources Group has a dividend payout ratio of 54.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect MDU Resources Group to earn $0.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.3%.

MDU Resources Group Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE MDU opened at $19.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. MDU Resources Group has a 52 week low of $14.91 and a 52 week high of $30.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.20 and a 200-day moving average of $24.68.

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $969.17 million. MDU Resources Group had a return on equity of 11.24% and a net margin of 8.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MDU Resources Group will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MDU. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of MDU Resources Group in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded MDU Resources Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded MDU Resources Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

About MDU Resources Group

MDU Resources Group, Inc engages in the regulated energy delivery, and construction materials and services businesses in the United States. It operates through four segments: Electric, Natural Gas Distribution, Pipeline, and Construction Services. The Electric segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and operates 3,400 miles of transmission lines, 4,800 miles of distribution lines, and 82 transmission and 298 distribution substations.