Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 186 Shares of MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MGE Energy were worth $3,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MGE Energy in the third quarter valued at $11,765,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in MGE Energy by 345.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 62,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,697,000 after purchasing an additional 48,330 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in MGE Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $4,210,000. First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its position in MGE Energy by 569.6% during the fourth quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 45,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,283,000 after buying an additional 38,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of MGE Energy by 62.4% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 44,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after buying an additional 16,927 shares during the last quarter. 52.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MGEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MGE Energy from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of MGE Energy to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James G. Berbee acquired 446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $90.83 per share, for a total transaction of $40,510.18. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,047,451.56. The trade was a 4.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MGE Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MGEE opened at $91.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.53. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 0.72. MGE Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.27 and a 1-year high of $109.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.23). MGE Energy had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 17.70%. The firm had revenue of $171.42 million for the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that MGE Energy, Inc. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

MGE Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. MGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

About MGE Energy

MGE Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company primarily in the United States. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility Operations; Regulated Gas Utility Operations; Nonregulated Energy Operations; Transmission Investments; and All Other segments. The company generates, purchases, and distributes electricity and natural gas in Wisconsin and Iowa; owns and leases electric generating capacity; and plans, constructs, operates, maintains, and expands transmission facilities to provide transmission power services.