Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 108,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total transaction of $4,750,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 94,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,113,731.30. The trade was a 53.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $874,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 180,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,871,400. This trade represents a 10.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 168,930 shares of company stock valued at $7,452,507 in the last three months. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in the 3rd quarter worth about $353,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 11,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.33% of the company’s stock.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Stock Performance

NYSE:ZWS opened at $45.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.43. The company has a market cap of $7.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.31, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.71. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a fifty-two week low of $27.74 and a fifty-two week high of $48.42.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $444.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.55 million. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 10.78%.The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor’s payout ratio is 35.64%.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.