Short Interest in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Rises By 25.4%

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,180,000 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the August 31st total of 4,130,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ZWS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 52,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.55, for a total transaction of $1,720,300.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 80,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,608,915.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions news, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 10,035 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $351,225.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 374,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,124,370. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 52,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.55, for a total value of $1,720,300.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 80,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,608,915.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,572 shares of company stock valued at $2,721,672 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,532,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 217,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,397,000 after purchasing an additional 59,278 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 3,236.0% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 506,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,889,000 after buying an additional 491,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,263,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,166,000 after acquiring an additional 15,559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.33% of the company’s stock.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,353,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,115,786. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a one year low of $25.09 and a one year high of $36.06. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 50.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.62.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $412.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $409.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is 45.07%.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Company Profile

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.