Short Interest in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Drops By 8.4%

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) saw a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 109,800 shares, a decrease of 8.4% from the July 31st total of 119,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 50,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Artesian Resources Stock Performance

ARTNA opened at $46.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $474.06 million, a P/E ratio of 26.84 and a beta of 0.15. Artesian Resources has a 52-week low of $44.37 and a 52-week high of $63.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.89 and its 200-day moving average is $51.44.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $25.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.00 million. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 8.39% and a net margin of 16.71%. Sell-side analysts expect that Artesian Resources will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th were paid a $0.284 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 16th. Artesian Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.28%.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARTNA. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Artesian Resources by 124.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 405,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,771,000 after purchasing an additional 224,669 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in Artesian Resources in the second quarter valued at about $7,677,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Artesian Resources by 17.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 779,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,845,000 after purchasing an additional 115,061 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Artesian Resources by 53.9% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 190,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,373,000 after purchasing an additional 66,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC raised its position in Artesian Resources by 85.9% in the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 102,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after purchasing an additional 47,573 shares during the last quarter. 53.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Artesian Resources in a report on Sunday, August 20th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock.

Artesian Resources Company Profile

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.