Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Middlesex Water were worth $581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Middlesex Water in the second quarter worth approximately $2,016,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 89.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,889,000 after buying an additional 35,282 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Middlesex Water during the first quarter valued at about $1,796,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Middlesex Water by 26.5% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 150,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,918,000 after acquiring an additional 31,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Middlesex Water by 12.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 219,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,451,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSEX has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W lowered shares of Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Middlesex Water from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSEX opened at $69.59 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.26 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Middlesex Water has a 52-week low of $45.42 and a 52-week high of $73.47.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $55.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Middlesex Water’s payout ratio is presently 56.52%.

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.