Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 11,502 Shares of Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA - Free Report) by 103.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,598 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 11,502 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.22% of Artesian Resources worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARTNA. Foundry Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 12.2% in the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 143,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,334,000 after acquiring an additional 15,580 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Artesian Resources by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 110,317 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Artesian Resources by 169.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,035 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 10,089 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Artesian Resources by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,766 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,712,000 after buying an additional 12,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.37% of the company's stock.

Artesian Resources Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARTNA traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 55,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $324.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.19. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $31.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.35. Artesian Resources Co. has a one year low of $29.45 and a one year high of $41.29.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 18.96%. The company had revenue of $25.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Artesian Resources Co. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.3014 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. This is a boost from Artesian Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Artesian Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

Artesian Resources Company 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.