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Artesian Resources Rewards Shareholders With 3% Dividend Hike

The board of directors of Artesian Resources Corporation (ARTNA recently approved a 3% hike in the company’s Class A and Class B common stock dividend, thereby bringing the annual dividend to $1.0284 per share. This quarterly dividend of 25.71 cents per share will be payable Nov 20 to its shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov 9.

Artesian Resources’ new dividendyield of 3.05% compares favorably with the industry’s figure of 1.88%.

The utility has been expanding its water and wastewater businesses significantlyover time through planned acquisitions and a growing customer base to provide consistent returns to its shareholders. Remarkably, this marks the company’s 112th consecutive quarterly dividend payment and the 24th straight year of dividend hike.

Can This Dividend be Sustained?

In the six months ended June 2020, Artesian Resources’ cash provided by operating activities amounted to $11.8 million, up 32.6% from the prior year. This upside is primarily attributable to water sales revenues and affected materially by changes in water sales and the extent of increases in rates approved by the state public service commissions.

Also, the company is making efforts to grow both organically and inorganically, which are boosting its performance and cash flow. Notably, in the past three years, Artesian Resources completed seven acquisitions. Backed by these positives, its consistent dividend raises seem sustainable.

Other Utilities Hiking Dividend

Apart from Artesian Resources, other utility companies are rewarding its shareholders with dividend hikes despite the ongoing pandemic. Some include American Water Works Co. Inc. AWK, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation CPK and Essential Utilities Inc WTRG.

American Water Works increased its dividend payout by 10% to 55 cents per share while Chesapeake Utilities hiked dividends by 8.6% to 44 cents per share. Also, Essential Utilities raised its quarterly dividend by 7% to 25.07 cents per share.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see  the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the past six months, shares of the company have lost 8.7% against the industry’s 4.6% growth.

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Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (CPK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Artesian Resources Corporation (ARTNA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
American Water Works Company, Inc. (AWK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Essential Utilities Inc. (WTRG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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