Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Increases Dividend to $0.09 Per Share

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This is an increase from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a payout ratio of 26.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Zurn Elkay Water Solutions to earn $1.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.7%.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ZWS opened at $39.18 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.70. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $27.55 and a fifty-two week high of $40.64.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last announced its quarterly 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. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 8.87%. The business had revenue of $410.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ZWS. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Mizuho raised their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 15,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.03, for a total transaction of $515,268.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 385,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,717,111.51. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd A. Adams sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.83, for a total transaction of $4,779,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,242,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,333,392.61. This trade represents a 5.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,688 shares of company stock valued at $8,400,151. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.