Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Middlesex Water were worth $485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 10,315 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the first quarter valued at about $1,113,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the first quarter valued at about $401,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $93,650,000 after acquiring an additional 20,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 12.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSEX. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Middlesex Water from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Middlesex Water Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSEX opened at $67.21 on Thursday. Middlesex Water has a twelve month low of $45.42 and a twelve month high of $73.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.26 and its 200 day moving average is $57.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27 and a beta of 0.79.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $49.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.00 million. Middlesex Water had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 21.14%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Middlesex Water’s payout ratio is 64.36%.

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.