Northstar Asset Management Inc. Increases Position in Middlesex Water Company $MSEX

Northstar Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 76.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,725 shares during the quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.19% of Middlesex Water worth $1,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSEX. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 29.9% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 25,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after buying an additional 5,948 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 88,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,701,000 after buying an additional 2,293 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 128.3% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the first quarter worth $238,000. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 10.6% during the first quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 4,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of Middlesex Water stock opened at $60.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $54.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.18. Middlesex Water Company has a 1 year low of $48.18 and a 1 year high of $70.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.83.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $49.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.60 million. Middlesex Water had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 22.15%. Equities research analysts predict that Middlesex Water Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Middlesex Water 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.