Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Declares $0.06 Quarterly Dividend

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.064 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Mueller Water Products has raised its dividend by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 9 years. Mueller Water Products has a dividend payout ratio of 32.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $0.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

NYSE MWA traded down $0.13 on Thursday, hitting $16.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,365,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,087,974. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $12.11 and a 12-month high of $16.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $15.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.04. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The business had revenue of $256.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Arsdell Stephen C. Van purchased 10,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.42 per share, with a total value of $154,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 80,603 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,242,898.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.62, for a total transaction of $103,997.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,196 shares in the company, valued at $534,141.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arsdell Stephen C. Van bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.42 per share, for a total transaction of $154,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 80,603 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,242,898.26. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,458 shares of company stock valued at $1,052,260. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MWA. StockNews.com raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

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.