Baird R W Upgrades Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) to “Strong-Buy”

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Baird R W from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

MSEX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Middlesex Water in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Middlesex Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Middlesex Water from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of MSEX stock opened at $58.03 on Monday. Middlesex Water has a 12-month low of $45.42 and a 12-month high of $70.73. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.18.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $47.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,471,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,440,000 after acquiring an additional 126,732 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 7.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 813,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,070,000 after purchasing an additional 53,098 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water by 0.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Middlesex Water by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 223,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,755,000 after purchasing an additional 23,289 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Middlesex Water by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 214,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,311,000 after purchasing an additional 6,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% 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.