R Squared Ltd Buys New Position in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA)

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Artesian Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Artesian Resources by 7.1% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 6,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Artesian Resources in the third quarter worth $289,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 26.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 19.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.37% of the company’s stock.

Artesian Resources Price Performance

ARTNA stock opened at $31.00 on Friday. Artesian Resources Co. has a one year low of $29.45 and a one year high of $41.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $319.30 million, a PE ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.24.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $29.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.00 million. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 8.57%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Artesian Resources Co. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.3014 per share. This is a boost from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. Artesian Resources’s payout ratio is 62.05%.

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.