Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Short Interest Update

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 408,700 shares, a decline of 15.0% from the February 13th total of 480,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 140,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middlesex Water

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSEX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,471,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,440,000 after acquiring an additional 126,732 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Middlesex Water by 7.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 813,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,070,000 after acquiring an additional 53,098 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Middlesex Water by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 434,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,356,000 after buying an additional 3,430 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Middlesex Water by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 223,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,755,000 after purchasing an additional 23,289 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Middlesex Water by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 214,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,311,000 after acquiring an additional 6,983 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Middlesex Water from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Middlesex Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised Middlesex Water from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Middlesex Water in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock.

Middlesex Water Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSEX stock opened at $60.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.31 and a 200-day moving average of $59.18. Middlesex Water has a 12 month low of $45.42 and a 12 month 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. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.85.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.13. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The firm had revenue of $47.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Middlesex Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.06%.

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.