Short Interest in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Declines By 12.5%

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 97,700 shares, a decline of 12.5% from the October 15th total of 111,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Artesian Resources Stock Performance

Shares of ARTNA opened at $34.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.22. Artesian Resources has a twelve month low of $32.93 and a twelve month high of $44.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.73. The firm has a market cap of $351.06 million, a P/E ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 0.21.

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

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.301 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. This is a positive change from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Artesian Resources’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARTNA. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 6.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 5.9% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 14.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 96,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,581,000 after purchasing an additional 12,523 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources in the first quarter worth $161,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 2.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 545,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,248,000 after purchasing an additional 14,668 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.37% of the company’s stock.

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.