Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) Receives $61.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Middlesex Water Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Middlesex Water stock opened at $56.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.10. 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 has a twelve month low of $48.18 and a twelve month high of $70.73.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $49.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.60 million. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 9.67%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This is a positive change from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Middlesex Water by 483.5% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Middlesex Water by 35.8% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Middlesex Water in the first quarter worth about $50,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Middlesex Water in the second quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Middlesex Water by 31.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.