Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU)

Stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) in a report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $18.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of MDU Resources Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Siebert Williams Shank raised MDU Resources Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on MDU Resources Group in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

MDU Resources Group Stock Performance

Shares of MDU Resources Group stock traded down $0.31 on Wednesday, hitting $17.70. The stock had a trading volume of 85,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,640,883. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.81. MDU Resources Group has a twelve month low of $14.91 and a twelve month high of $30.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $969.17 million. MDU Resources Group had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 11.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MDU Resources Group will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MDU Resources Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in MDU Resources Group by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 855,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,449,000 after buying an additional 209,042 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MDU Resources Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,719,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,978,000 after acquiring an additional 65,433 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in MDU Resources Group by 7.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after acquiring an additional 6,264 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in MDU Resources Group in the third quarter valued at about $396,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in MDU Resources Group in the third quarter worth about $619,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.44% of the company’s stock.

MDU Resources Group Company Profile

MDU Resources Group, Inc engages in the regulated energy delivery, and construction materials and services businesses in the United States. It operates through four segments: Electric, Natural Gas Distribution, Pipeline, and Construction Services. The Electric segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and operates 3,400 miles of transmission lines, 4,800 miles of distribution lines, and 82 transmission and 298 distribution substations.