Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $22.90 and last traded at $22.81, with a volume of 218662 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MWA has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen cut Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 3.70 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $20.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.95.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.064 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $11,065,549.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares in the company, valued at $2,112,375.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,767 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 1,405 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 29.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 44,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $963,000 after acquiring an additional 10,166 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 20.3% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 320,190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,948,000 after acquiring an additional 53,968 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 3.1% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 19,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the second quarter valued at $1,649,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.