Legal & General Group Plc Sells 3,305 Shares of Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,305 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.10% of Middlesex Water worth $10,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Middlesex Water by 1,006.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Middlesex Water by 1,136.4% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Middlesex Water in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Middlesex Water by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Middlesex Water in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSEX has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Middlesex Water from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Baird R W raised shares of Middlesex Water from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Middlesex Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Middlesex Water in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Middlesex Water has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Middlesex Water news, Director Dennis W. Doll sold 4,067 shares of Middlesex Water stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.05, for a total transaction of $244,223.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 52,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,325.60. This trade represents a 7.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Middlesex Water Stock Performance

Shares of MSEX opened at $62.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.91. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.80. Middlesex Water has a 12-month low of $45.57 and a 12-month high of $70.73.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) last announced its 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 net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $47.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Middlesex Water will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Middlesex Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Middlesex Water’s dividend payout ratio is 55.06%.

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.