First Trust Advisors LP Sells 9,072 Shares of MGE Energy Inc. $MGEE

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in shares of MGE Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) by 2.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 446,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,072 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in MGE Energy were worth $34,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MGEE. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in MGE Energy by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of MGE Energy in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MGE Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MGE Energy by 28.6% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MGE Energy by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MGEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised MGE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MGE Energy in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $76.00 price target on shares of MGE Energy in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.50.

MGE Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MGEE opened at $81.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93 and a beta of 0.71. MGE Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $72.16 and a 52-week high of $88.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.63.

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.19. MGE Energy had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business had revenue of $242.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.06 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that MGE Energy Inc. will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MGE Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. MGE Energy’s payout ratio is currently 48.72%.

MGE Energy Profile

MGE Energy, Inc is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Through its principal subsidiary, Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE), the company provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in south-central Wisconsin. MGE Energy’s operations encompass the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as the purchase and distribution of natural gas, with an emphasis on reliable service and system resilience.

Since reorganizing as a holding company in 2001, MGE Energy has expanded its portfolio to include nonregulated subsidiaries involved in renewable energy development, energy services and infrastructure support.