Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $40.74 and last traded at $40.20, with a volume of 11333 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZWS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.17.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.00, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $410.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.15 million. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 8.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. This is a positive change from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions news, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 15,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.03, for a total transaction of $515,268.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 385,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,717,111.51. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 52,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.55, for a total value of $1,720,300.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 80,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,608,915.05. The trade was a 39.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,688 shares of company stock worth $8,400,151. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 63.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,441,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119,777 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,619,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,161,000 after acquiring an additional 868,748 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,695,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,846,000 after acquiring an additional 465,701 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 8,801,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,645,000 after acquiring an additional 346,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $10,947,000. 83.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.