American Century Companies Inc. Makes New $289,000 Investment in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX)

American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,427,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,650,000 after acquiring an additional 20,712 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 219,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,451,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Middlesex Water by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 150,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,918,000 after purchasing an additional 31,607 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Middlesex Water by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 62,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,243,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 22.4% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 56,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,961,000 after buying an additional 10,315 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSEX. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Middlesex Water from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W cut shares of Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of Middlesex Water stock opened at $63.37 on Friday. Middlesex Water has a one year low of $45.42 and a one year high of $73.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.70. 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 (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.05). Middlesex Water had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The firm had revenue of $49.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.00 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Middlesex Water will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.36%.

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.