Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) versus Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Head-To-Head Survey

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) and Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Essential Utilities and Middlesex Water”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essential Utilities	$2.47 billion	5.17	$616.37 million	$1.96	23.02
Middlesex Water	$194.69 million	5.82	$42.82 million	$2.77	21.37

Essential Utilities has higher revenue and earnings than Middlesex Water. Middlesex Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essential Utilities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Essential Utilities and Middlesex Water, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essential Utilities	1	0	3	1	2.80
Middlesex Water	0	2	0	1	2.67

Essential Utilities currently has a consensus price target of $43.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.71%. Middlesex Water has a consensus price target of $60.75, suggesting a potential upside of 2.64%. Given Middlesex Water’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Middlesex Water is more favorable than Essential Utilities.

Profitability

This table compares Essential Utilities and Middlesex Water’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essential Utilities	21.79%	8.42%	2.96%
Middlesex Water	24.50%	10.08%	3.69%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Middlesex Water pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Essential Utilities pays out 73.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Middlesex Water pays out 52.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Essential Utilities has increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years and Middlesex Water has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Middlesex Water beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties. In addition, the company provides utility service line protection solutions and repair services to households. It serves approximately 5.5 million residential water, commercial water, fire protection, industrial water, wastewater, and other water and utility customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia, and Kentucky under the Aqua and Peoples brands. The company was formerly known as Aqua America, Inc. and changed its name to Essential Utilities, Inc. in February 2020. Essential Utilities, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

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. The Non-Regulated segment provides non-regulated contract services for the operation and maintenance of municipal and private water and wastewater systems in New Jersey and Delaware. Middlesex Water Company was incorporated in 1896 and is headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey.