StockNews.com Begins Coverage on MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

MDU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America raised MDU Resources Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $31.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded MDU Resources Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th.

MDU Resources Group Stock Down 0.7 %

MDU opened at $18.20 on Thursday. MDU Resources Group has a 12 month low of $14.91 and a 12 month high of $30.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $20.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.79.

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $969.17 million. MDU Resources Group had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 11.24%. MDU Resources Group’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MDU Resources Group will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MDU Resources Group by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 855,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,449,000 after buying an additional 209,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MDU Resources Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,719,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,978,000 after purchasing an additional 65,433 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in MDU Resources Group by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in MDU Resources Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $396,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of MDU Resources Group during the third quarter valued at about $619,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.44% of the company’s stock.

About MDU Resources Group

MDU Resources Group, Inc engages in the regulated energy delivery, and construction materials and services businesses in the United States. It operates through four segments: Electric, Natural Gas Distribution, Pipeline, and Construction Services. The Electric segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and operates 3,400 miles of transmission lines, 4,800 miles of distribution lines, and 82 transmission and 298 distribution substations.