MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Stock Rated Neutral in New Coverage at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $76.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MGEE. Wall Street Zen upgraded MGE Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on MGE Energy from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 18th. Bank of America began coverage on MGE Energy in a report on Thursday, September 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MGE Energy in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.00.

MGE Energy Price Performance

MGEE opened at $72.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.46. MGE Energy has a twelve month low of $68.01 and a twelve month high of $87.94.

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.12. MGE Energy had a net margin of 19.45% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $161.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.37 million. Equities analysts expect that MGE Energy will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

MGE Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st were given a $0.5083 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from MGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4750. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 1st. MGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MGE Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MGEE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MGE Energy in the second quarter worth $496,897,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of MGE Energy during the second quarter valued at about $27,087,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in shares of MGE Energy during the first quarter valued at about $21,418,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of MGE Energy during the second quarter valued at about $15,443,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of MGE Energy in the second quarter worth about $6,752,000. Institutional investors own 52.58% of the company’s stock.

About MGE Energy

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.