Middlesex Water Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.33 (NASDAQ:MSEX)

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.325 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th.

Middlesex Water has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 51 consecutive years. Middlesex Water has a dividend payout ratio of 56.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Middlesex Water to earn $2.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.2%.

Middlesex Water Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSEX traded up $0.40 on Friday, reaching $49.18. 98,575 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 111,352. Middlesex Water has a 12 month low of $45.42 and a 12 month high of $84.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $875.90 million, a PE ratio of 27.94 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.81.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.14). Middlesex Water had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 7.61%. The company had revenue of $38.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.00 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Middlesex Water will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Middlesex Water from $69.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James F. Jr. Cosgrove acquired 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.70 per share, with a total value of $82,720.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $482,981.40. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.86% of the company’s stock.

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.