Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.20.

Several brokerages recently commented on MWA. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock opened at $24.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.96. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $13.49 and a 1 year high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The company had revenue of $348.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.80 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $88,971.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $967,848.66. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,328,282. This represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,077,000. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter worth about $346,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 194.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,033,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,528,000 after acquiring an additional 682,740 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $259,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 6.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,055,545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,915,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc manufactures and markets products and services for the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water used by municipalities, and the residential and non-residential construction industries in the United States, Israel, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions.