Ladenburg Thalmann Initiates Coverage of Middlesex Water With Neutral and PT of $20

Ladenburg Thalmann initiated its coverage of Middlesex Water

with a Neutral rating and a price target of $20. In a research report published today, Ladenburg states, "Initiating coverage of MSEX with a Neutral rating and a $20 price target, representing a 1-year total return of 12.7%. Our target is based on the shares trading at 19.6x our 2012 EPS estimate of $1.03, in-line with the 5-year avg. FY+2 multiple. Our 2012 est. is $0.05 below consensus." On Wednesday, Middlesex finished the day at $18.39. Its shares lost some value in today's pre-market trading, however, falling 0.49% to $18.30.