Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.36 Per Share

Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This is a 5.9% increase from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Middlesex Water has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Middlesex Water has a dividend payout ratio of 52.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Middlesex Water to earn $2.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.5%.

Middlesex Water Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSEX traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.50. The company had a trading volume of 102,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 146,563. The stock has a market cap of $962.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.86. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.40. Middlesex Water has a one year low of $44.17 and a one year high of $68.64.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $54.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.08 million. Middlesex Water had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 9.67%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Middlesex Water from $73.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Middlesex Water presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.67.

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.