MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $175.68 million during the quarter. MGE Energy had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 10.58%.

MGE Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ MGEE opened at $84.47 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.85. MGE Energy has a 12-month low of $81.13 and a 12-month high of $109.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46 and a beta of 0.81.

MGE Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. MGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.78%.

Insider Transactions at MGE Energy

In other MGE Energy news, Director James G. Berbee purchased 507 shares of MGE Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $83.83 per share, with a total value of $42,501.81. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,329 shares in the company, valued at $530,560.07. This trade represents a 8.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MGE Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in MGE Energy by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 124,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,015,000 after acquiring an additional 9,775 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in MGE Energy by 3,301.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its holdings in MGE Energy by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 10,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in MGE Energy by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MGE Energy by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. 52.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MGEE. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MGE Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of MGE Energy from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MGE Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of MGE Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MGE Energy presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $79.00.

About MGE Energy

MGE Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company primarily in the United States. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility Operations; Regulated Gas Utility Operations; Nonregulated Energy Operations; Transmission Investments; and All Other segments. The company generates, purchases, and distributes electricity and natural gas in Wisconsin and Iowa; owns and leases electric generating capacity; and plans, constructs, operates, maintains, and expands transmission facilities to provide transmission power services.