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

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the technology company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%.

Watts Water Technologies has increased its dividend by an average of 17.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Watts Water Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 18.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Watts Water Technologies to earn $8.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.2%.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WTS traded down $1.17 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $205.61. 450,344 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 143,988. Watts Water Technologies has a 1 year low of $175.37 and a 1 year high of $222.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $209.06 and a 200 day moving average of $202.81.

Insider Activity at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, CEO Robert J. Pagano, Jr. sold 20,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.20, for a total transaction of $4,415,882.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 176,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,356,749. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Shashank Patel sold 4,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.10, for a total value of $955,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,269,278.50. The trade was a 22.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,545 shares of company stock worth $6,257,140. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.50.

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.