Swiss National Bank Sells 3,200 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 304,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $6,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8,617.9% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 21,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 21,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after acquiring an additional 227,843 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 73.7% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 31,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 13,525 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 13.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 694,469 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,175,000 after purchasing an additional 83,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 24.1% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,016 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 14,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.20.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock opened at $25.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.08 and a 12-month high of $26.28.

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

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total transaction of $88,971.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $967,848.66. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $263,300.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.