Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 561,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,491 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 5.45% of Artesian Resources worth $17,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Artesian Resources by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 110,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,104,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 17,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 3,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $272,000. 57.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Artesian Resources Price Performance

ARTNA opened at $34.25 on Thursday. Artesian Resources Co. has a twelve month low of $29.45 and a twelve month high of $41.29. The firm has a market cap of $352.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.85.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $25.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.00 million. Equities research analysts expect that Artesian Resources Co. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.3014 per share. This is an increase from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Artesian Resources’s payout ratio is 60.61%.

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.