Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, TheStreet lowered Artesian Resources from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th.

Artesian Resources Stock Up 1.8 %

ARTNA opened at $34.33 on Thursday. Artesian Resources has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $57.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $353.26 million, a PE ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 0.18.

Artesian Resources (NASDAQ:ARTNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $24.55 million for the quarter. Artesian Resources had a return on equity of 7.62% and a net margin of 16.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Artesian Resources will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Artesian Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARTNA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 454.9% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Artesian Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 153.5% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 64.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Artesian Resources by 347.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,714 shares during the last quarter. 57.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.