MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on MGE Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased 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, September 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MGE Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

MGE Energy Price Performance

Shares of MGEE stock opened at $70.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.60. MGE Energy has a one year low of $68.01 and a one year high of $87.94.

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) last issued its 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 net margin of 19.45% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $161.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.37 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MGE Energy will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

MGE Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.5083 per share. This is a positive change from MGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4750. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. MGE Energy’s payout ratio is 49.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MGE Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MGEE. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in MGE Energy in the second quarter valued at about $6,752,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MGE Energy during the second quarter valued at about $496,897,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of MGE Energy by 193.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 32,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after buying an additional 21,663 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of MGE Energy during the second quarter valued at about $4,160,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of MGE Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,491,000. Institutional investors own 52.58% of the company’s stock.

MGE Energy Company Profile

MGE Energy, Inc is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Through its principal subsidiary, Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE), the company generates, purchases, transmits, distributes and sells electricity, as well as distributes and sells natural gas.

MGE serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in Madison and surrounding communities in south-central Wisconsin. Its energy portfolio includes traditional generation resources along with investments in renewable energy, including wind and solar projects.