Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Announces $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%.

Middlesex Water has raised its dividend by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Middlesex Water has a payout ratio of 53.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Middlesex Water to earn $2.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.2%.

Middlesex Water Trading Up 0.7 %

MSEX traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.79. 127,800 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 126,212. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.23. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $45.42 and a 1-year high of $70.73. The company has a market cap of $924.45 million, a PE ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSEX. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Middlesex Water from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Middlesex Water in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock.

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.