Teton Advisors Inc. Sells 500 Shares of Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA)

Teton Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Teton Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Artesian Resources were worth $990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake 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 valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 1,759 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Artesian Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $272,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 17,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 3,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 169.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 10,089 shares in the last quarter. 57.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Artesian Resources Stock Up 3.6 %

ARTNA stock opened at $34.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.51 million, a PE ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 0.27. Artesian Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $29.45 and a 52 week high of $41.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.99 and a 200 day moving average of $32.83.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 18.96%. The firm had revenue of $25.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.00 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Artesian Resources Co. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.3014 per share. This is an increase from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Artesian Resources’s payout ratio is 60.61%.

Artesian Resources 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.