Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 30,086 Shares of Middlesex Water Company $MSEX

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 285,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,086 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Middlesex Water were worth $15,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Middlesex Water during the first quarter worth approximately $238,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the 1st quarter worth approximately $656,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the 1st quarter worth approximately $793,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Middlesex Water in the 1st quarter valued at $866,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in Middlesex Water during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Middlesex Water Stock Down 0.8%

MSEX opened at $50.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.55 and a 200-day moving average of $54.64. The company has a market capitalization of $931.02 million, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.86. Middlesex Water Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.17 and a fifty-two week high of $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.41.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.09). Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The business had revenue of $54.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.08 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Middlesex Water Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Middlesex Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a boost from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Middlesex Water’s payout ratio is 60.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSEX has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Middlesex Water from $73.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

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.