MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE:MDU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE:MDU) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on MDU. Loop Capital set a $21.00 target price on MDU Resources Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Zacks Research raised MDU Resources Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MDU Resources Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of MDU Resources Group in a research note on Thursday, January 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles M. Kelley acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.84 per share, with a total value of $104,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,366.04. This trade represents a 164.96% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MDU Resources Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDU. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MDU Resources Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,828,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $465,132,000 after buying an additional 571,015 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in shares of MDU Resources Group by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 12,894,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $251,709,000 after acquiring an additional 3,766,737 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of MDU Resources Group by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,031,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $195,824,000 after acquiring an additional 267,700 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of MDU Resources Group by 678.2% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 9,946,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $194,150,000 after acquiring an additional 8,668,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in MDU Resources Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,121,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,991,000 after purchasing an additional 281,025 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.44% of the company’s stock.

MDU Resources Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:MDU opened at $21.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.42. MDU Resources Group has a 52 week low of $15.04 and a 52 week high of $21.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.75.

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. MDU Resources Group had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The firm had revenue of $534.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. MDU Resources Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.930-1.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MDU Resources Group will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MDU Resources Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 12th. MDU Resources Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.22%.

About MDU Resources Group

MDU Resources Group, Inc is a diversified energy and services holding company headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota. The company operates through two primary segments: Utilities and Construction Services and Pipelines & Midstream. Serving a broad geographic footprint across the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest, MDU provides essential energy distribution and infrastructure services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

The Utilities segment delivers electric and natural gas distribution services in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan and Washington.