Wall Street Zen Downgrades MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) to Sell

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MGEE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded MGE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MGE Energy from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MGE Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

MGE Energy Price Performance

MGEE opened at $74.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.28. MGE Energy has a 52-week low of $72.16 and a 52-week high of $87.94.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MGE Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in MGE Energy by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of MGE Energy by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 4,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of MGE Energy by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of MGE Energy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MGE Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. 52.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About MGE Energy

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.