Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

NYSE:MWA opened at $21.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $12.39 and a twelve month high of $23.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.51.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.067 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In related news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 102,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $10,630,326.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total value of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,112,375.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after buying an additional 227,843 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,143,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,571,000 after acquiring an additional 15,346 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 399.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,962,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,055 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 24.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,999,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,838,000 after purchasing an additional 395,123 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,055,545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,915,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.