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

Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 raised 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. 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

Shares of ARTNA opened at $31.58 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.01. Artesian Resources has a 52 week low of $29.45 and a 52 week high of $41.29. The stock has a market cap of $325.27 million, a P/E ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.24.

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

About Artesian Resources

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.