Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 11,096 Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Artesian Resources Co. (NASDAQ:ARTNA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 11,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Artesian Resources by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 545,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,248,000 after purchasing an additional 14,668 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Artesian Resources during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,220,000. Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings in shares of Artesian Resources by 0.6% in the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 157,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,850,000 after buying an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 2.3% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 146,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,156,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC grew its stake in Artesian Resources by 7.3% during the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 127,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,497,000 after acquiring an additional 8,730 shares in the last quarter. 57.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Artesian Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARTNA opened at $34.74 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.52. Artesian Resources Co. has a 52-week low of $32.93 and a 52-week high of $44.78. The company has a market cap of $357.82 million, a P/E ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.22.

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

Artesian Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.301 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a boost from Artesian Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Artesian Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 62.05%.

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.