Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Upgraded at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $61.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Middlesex Water in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

MSEX stock opened at $58.97 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.17. Middlesex Water has a fifty-two week low of $45.42 and a fifty-two week high of $70.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.13. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $47.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.06%.

Institutional Trading of Middlesex Water

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSEX. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 19,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 6,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Middlesex Water by 771.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Middlesex Water Company Profile

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.