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

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.60.

MWA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at $691,898.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $10,630,326.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total value of $175,472.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MWA. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth $1,509,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 3.7% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 757,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,193,000 after acquiring an additional 27,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth $14,642,000. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 43.5% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 256,695 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 77,810 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Mueller Water Products during the first quarter worth $452,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock opened at $21.47 on Tuesday. Mueller Water Products has a one year low of $12.13 and a one year high of $21.51. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.77.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

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.