State Street Corp Grows Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 0.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 12,438 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $85,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.3% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 162,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,532,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 3.1% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 19,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 6.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 11,022 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA opened at $24.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.06. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.49 and a 12-month high of $26.28.

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

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.067 per share. 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. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MWA. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.20.

About Mueller Water Products

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.