Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys Shares of 12,473 Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,473 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $407,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.12% of Artesian Resources as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARTNA. FCA Corp TX grew its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 77,976 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Artesian Resources by 4,084.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Artesian Resources by 100.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,514 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 1,759 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 703.3% in the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 18,588 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Artesian Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Artesian Resources Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARTNA traded up $0.99 during trading on Monday, hitting $34.22. 24,166 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 45,652. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $34.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $352.81 million, a P/E ratio of 16.45 and a beta of 0.34. Artesian Resources Corporation has a 12-month low of $29.45 and a 12-month high of $41.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.18. Artesian Resources had a net margin of 19.60% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $25.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.00 million. On average, research analysts predict that Artesian Resources Corporation will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.3074 dividend. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. This is a positive change from Artesian Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Artesian Resources's dividend payout ratio is 59.13%.

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.