Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.20.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MWA shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In related news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $653,188.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,356.22. This trade represents a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $88,971.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $967,848.66. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,997 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 9,061 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 924,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,066,000 after acquiring an additional 12,391 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 369.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 98,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 77,467 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 25,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 12,724 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MWA opened at $21.68 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.77. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $13.49 and a twelve month high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The company had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.80 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is a boost from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.62%.

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.