Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Hits New 1-Year High After Earnings Beat

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $18.99 and last traded at $18.25, with a volume of 546509 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.55.

The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $353.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.62 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 13.86% and a net margin of 6.35%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MWA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mueller Water Products has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MWA. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the first quarter worth $46,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 4,422 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the first quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 6,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 8.9 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33.

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.