MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MGEE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised MGE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MGE Energy from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MGE Energy in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

MGE Energy Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MGEE opened at $74.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. MGE Energy has a 52-week low of $72.16 and a 52-week high of $87.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $79.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.30.

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.12. MGE Energy had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 19.45%.The company had revenue of $161.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.37 million. Research analysts predict that MGE Energy will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

MGE Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were paid a $0.5083 dividend. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from MGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 1st. MGE Energy’s payout ratio is presently 49.88%.

Institutional Trading of MGE Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MGE Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $496,897,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MGE Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 921,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,315,000 after purchasing an additional 3,692 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in MGE Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,087,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new stake in MGE Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $21,418,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of MGE Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,443,000. 52.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MGE Energy Company Profile

MGE Energy, Inc is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its principal subsidiary, Madison Gas and Electric Company (MG&E), provides electric and natural gas service to residential, commercial and industrial customers in south-central Wisconsin.

The company’s operations include generating, purchasing, transmitting and distributing electricity, as well as distributing natural gas. MGE Energy’s generation portfolio includes renewable resources such as wind and solar, along with other generation and purchased-power arrangements.