Victory Capital Management Inc. Invests $230,000 in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX)

Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake 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 worth $4,889,000 after buying an additional 35,282 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 2.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 6.0% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 39,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Middlesex Water during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,016,000. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSEX shares. Baird R W cut shares of Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Middlesex Water from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Middlesex Water Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Middlesex Water stock opened at $65.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.79. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $45.42 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.90.

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

Middlesex Water Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Middlesex Water’s payout ratio is currently 59.13%.

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.