Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Raises Dividend to $0.30 Per Share

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.3014 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is a boost from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Artesian Resources has increased its dividend by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years. Artesian Resources has a payout ratio of 57.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Artesian Resources to earn $2.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.21 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.5%.

Artesian Resources Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of ARTNA traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 58,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,251. The stock has a market cap of $325.27 million, a PE ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $32.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Artesian Resources has a 52 week low of $29.45 and a 52 week high of $41.29.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.00 million. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 8.57%. On average, analysts predict that Artesian Resources will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.