The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 87,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $1,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 399.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,962,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,055 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,944,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,200,000 after acquiring an additional 37,729 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in 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. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 194.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,033,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,528,000 after buying an additional 682,740 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 1.5 %

Mueller Water Products stock opened at $24.93 on Tuesday. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.49 and a twelve month high of $26.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.37. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.89.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The business had revenue of $348.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MWA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 57,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.69, for a total transaction of $1,488,684.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,424.56. This trade represents a 57.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.