Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is an increase from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Artesian Resources has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years. Artesian Resources has a payout ratio of 57.9% indicating that 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 Stock Performance

Artesian Resources stock traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.58. 58,980 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 43,251. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Artesian Resources has a 12 month low of $29.45 and a 12 month high of $41.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $325.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.06.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 18.96%. The company had revenue of $29.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.00 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Artesian Resources will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current 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.