Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the technology company on Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This is an increase from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Watts Water Technologies has increased its dividend by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Watts Water Technologies has a payout ratio of 15.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Watts Water Technologies to earn $9.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.7%.

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 2.2 %

WTS stock traded down $4.64 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $207.60. 107,920 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 127,851. Watts Water Technologies has a one year low of $156.85 and a one year high of $219.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $205.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $199.70. The company has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.61.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The technology company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $570.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.20 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.75% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. Research analysts predict that Watts Water Technologies will post 8.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $152,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,236 shares in the company, valued at $2,832,964. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Watts Water Technologies news, CAO Virginia A. Halloran sold 1,520 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.11, for a total value of $307,207.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,994,865.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 764 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $152,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,832,964. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,113 shares of company stock valued at $1,023,106 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WTS. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $206.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $191.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.25.

About Watts Water Technologies

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.