Short Interest in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Rises By 34.3%

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 339,700 shares, an increase of 34.3% from the June 15th total of 253,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 86,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARTNA. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Artesian Resources by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 83,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,481,000 after buying an additional 30,101 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 11.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 546,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,962,000 after buying an additional 58,055 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 116,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,840,000 after buying an additional 7,305 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Artesian Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $237,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. 57.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Artesian Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Artesian Resources Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ARTNA stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $39.32. The company had a trading volume of 11,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,839. Artesian Resources has a 12 month low of $33.34 and a 12 month high of $49.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.54. The company has a market cap of $404.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 0.19.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 17.25%. The company had revenue of $24.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.00 million. On average, research analysts expect that Artesian Resources will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.296 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Artesian Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.41%.

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.