Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA – Get Rating) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. TheStreet raised Mueller Water Products from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Mueller Water Products from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.67.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

MWA opened at $14.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.67. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $9.90 and a 12-month high of $14.62. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.31.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $314.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.85 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 13.00% and a net margin of 6.18%. Mueller Water Products’s revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Michael T. Tokarz sold 4,189 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.34, for a total value of $47,503.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 376,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,269,498.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 14,645,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $157,589,000 after buying an additional 1,356,570 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,817,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $148,671,000 after buying an additional 2,388,219 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,998,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,225,000 after buying an additional 134,558 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,360,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,675,000 after buying an additional 159,741 shares during the period. Finally, Eaton Vance Management lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 3,984,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,476,000 after buying an additional 690,788 shares during the period. 88.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

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Mueller Water Products, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of products used in the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. It operates through the Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions segments. The Water Flow Solutions segment includes iron gate valves, specialty valves, and service brass products.