Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from five research firms, with an average target price of $61.00.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.60 per share, falling short of investor expectations, and had revenue totaling $49.32 million, which also did not meet estimates.
• Middlesex Water declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $1.36 and a yield of 2.5%.

Shares of Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a research note on Saturday, September 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middlesex Water

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Middlesex Water by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,649 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Middlesex Water by 77.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 27,380 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 11,929 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 61,099 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,310,000 after acquiring an additional 4,479 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 32,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 51.6% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 6,597 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

MSEX stock traded up $0.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.57. 107,224 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 145,433. The firm has a market cap of $965.33 million, a PE ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company's fifty day moving average price is $53.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.68. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $48.18 and a 1-year high of $70.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $49.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.60 million. Middlesex Water had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 22.15%. On average, research analysts expect that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Middlesex Water's dividend payout ratio is 56.20%.

About Middlesex Water

Middlesex Water Company owns and operates regulated water utility and wastewater systems. It operates in Regulated and Non-Regulated segments. The Regulated segment collects, treats, and distributes water on a retail and wholesale basis to residential, commercial, industrial, and fire protection customers, as well as provides regulated wastewater systems in New Jersey and Delaware.

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