Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.30 Per Share

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 6th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of 0.296 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

Artesian Resources has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Artesian Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 55.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Artesian Resources to earn $2.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

Artesian Resources Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:ARTNA traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $38.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,635. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $393.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02 and a beta of 0.20. Artesian Resources has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $55.98.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $24.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.00 million. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 7.62% and a net margin of 16.89%. Equities analysts expect that Artesian Resources will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Artesian Resources from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artesian Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

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.