Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Stake in Middlesex Water Company $MSEX

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its holdings in Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,523 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.29% of Middlesex Water worth $3,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 128.3% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 4,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Middlesex Water during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Middlesex Water by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Middlesex Water in the first quarter worth $50,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut Middlesex Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.00.

Middlesex Water Stock Down 2.1%

MSEX stock opened at $52.79 on Tuesday. Middlesex Water Company has a 1-year low of $48.18 and a 1-year high of $70.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $53.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.36. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $951.12 million, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Middlesex Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio is 56.20%.

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.