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

Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $25.80.

Several equities research analysts have commented on MWA shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

MWA opened at $26.90 on Friday. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $14.81 and a 1-year high of $28.58. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.63. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 10.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is 30.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total transaction of $275,294.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,408.48. The trade was a 60.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $457,552.84. Following the sale, the director now owns 126,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,391,464.53. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Mueller Water Products by 171.8% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,761 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter worth about $100,000. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.