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

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from Middlesex Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33.

Middlesex Water has raised its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Middlesex Water has a payout ratio of 57.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Middlesex Water to earn $2.39 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 56.9%.

Middlesex Water Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSEX opened at $66.38 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86 and a beta of 0.79. Middlesex Water has a 1-year low of $45.42 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.93.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Baird R W lowered shares of Middlesex Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Middlesex Water from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

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.