Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MSEX. Bank of America initiated coverage on Middlesex Water in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded Middlesex Water from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Middlesex Water from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of MSEX opened at $64.93 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.65. Middlesex Water has a 52-week low of $45.42 and a 52-week high of $70.73.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.13. Middlesex Water had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 22.53%. The firm had revenue of $47.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSEX. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 349.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 813,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,070,000 after purchasing an additional 53,098 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 434,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,356,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Middlesex Water by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Middlesex Water by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 86,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,560,000 after buying an additional 2,544 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.