Public Sector Pension Investment Board Boosts Stock Holdings in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,227 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.22% of Middlesex Water worth $2,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 22.4% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 56,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,961,000 after buying an additional 10,315 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Middlesex Water in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 255,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,734,000 after purchasing an additional 35,332 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Middlesex Water during the 1st quarter worth $401,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,427,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,650,000 after purchasing an additional 20,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSEX. Robert W. Baird downgraded Middlesex Water from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W downgraded Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Middlesex Water Price Performance

Shares of MSEX opened at $64.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $45.42 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.01 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.42.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $49.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.00 million. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 8.69%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Middlesex Water will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Middlesex Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Middlesex Water’s payout ratio is currently 64.36%.

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.