Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Increases Dividend to $0.33 Per Share

Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.3263 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, November 30th. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a 2.0% increase from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3199.

Artesian Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 57.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Artesian Resources Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARTNA opened at $33.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.20 and a 200-day moving average of $33.43. The firm has a market cap of $348.33 million, a P/E ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 0.32. Artesian Resources has a twelve month low of $30.50 and a twelve month high of $36.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artesian Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 15.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 320,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,207,000 after buying an additional 42,000 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 189,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 170,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,659,000 after acquiring an additional 5,170 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 86,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,866,000 after purchasing an additional 17,272 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 73,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,346,000 after purchasing an additional 17,213 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.37% of the company’s stock.

About Artesian Resources

Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ: ARTNA) is a regulated water utility holding company headquartered in Newark, Delaware. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides water and wastewater services to residential, commercial, industrial, municipal and governmental customers.

Artesian’s principal operating subsidiary, Artesian Water Company, serves customers in Delaware. Related subsidiaries provide regulated water service in Maryland and Pennsylvania, while other operations support wastewater services, water treatment and contract operations.