SSgA Funds Management, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Utilities company by 7.45% to 1.99 million shares with purchase of 0.14 million shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 11.26% valued currently at $156.26 million. In addition, The Vanguard Group, Inc. raised its holdings by 36328.0 to 1.35 million shares. And Invesco Capital Management LLC has lifted its position by 10.46% or 35222.0 shares – to 0.37 million shares.
With over 0.15 million Middlesex Water Company (MSEX) shares trading Friday and a closing price of $80.64 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $11.93 million. The shares have shown a negative half year performance of -9.75% and its price on 01/20/23 gained nearly 1.03%. Currently, there are 17.63M common shares owned by the public and among those 17.33M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 2 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for MSEX have a consensus price objective of $97.00. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $97.00 and a low of $97.00. The average price target is 16.87% above its recent price level and an upside to the estimated low will see the stock gain 16.87% over that period. But an upside of 16.87% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $97.00.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 43 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 23 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 18,523 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 20 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 22,736 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Middlesex Water Company are iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF, SPDR S&P Dividend ETF, and Pictet – Water. iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF owns 1.15 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $90.81 million. SPDR S&P Dividend ETF sold 1084.0 shares to see its total holdings shrink to 1.01 million shares valued at over $79.81 million and representing 5.75% of the shares outstanding. Pictet – Water now owns shares totaling to 3.62% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ: MSEX) opened at $80.46, up $0.64 from a prior closing price of $79.82. However, the script later moved the day high at 80.69, up 1.03%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -0.85% and -2.43% over the past three months. MSEX shares are trading 2.50% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance down to -17.60% lower. It has a 12-month low price of $74.20 and touched a high of $109.51 over the same period. MSEX has an average intraday trading volume of 110.87K shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by -1.79%, -7.68%, and -8.43% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ: MSEX) shares accounts for 72.10% of the company’s 17.63M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 48.39%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 5.60% and 23.15% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $1.41B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 0.74. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 33.60, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $2.40. The company has a PEG of 12.44 and a Quick Ratio of 0.40 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.88. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 2.56% over the week and 3.14% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Middlesex Water Company (MSEX) will achieve an EPS of $0.88 for the current quarter, $0.54 for the next quarter and $2.74 for 2023. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $0.88 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $0.88. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.65 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to decrease by -5.10%, and 1.75% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 2.70% over the next five years, compared to 8.50% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 2 brokerage firm advisors rate Middlesex Water Company (MSEX) as a “Strong Buy” at a consensus score of 1.00. Specifically, 1 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 0 of the 2 advise that investors “hold,” and 0 rated it as a “Sell.”
Janney on their part issued Neutral rating on January 20, 2021.
