Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.34 Per Share

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33.

Middlesex Water has raised its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 51 consecutive years. Middlesex Water has a payout ratio of 56.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Middlesex Water to earn $2.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.1%.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of MSEX traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $63.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 52,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 136,084. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $45.42 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $49.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.00 million. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 8.69%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Middlesex Water will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSEX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered Middlesex Water from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W lowered Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

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.