Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Declares $0.09 Quarterly Dividend

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has increased its dividend by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a dividend payout ratio of 24.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

ZWS traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 797,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 859,915. The company has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.99, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.72. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a 1 year low of $28.25 and a 1 year high of $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $410.00 million for 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In related news, CEO Todd A. Adams sold 120,000 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.83, for a total value of $4,779,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,242,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,333,392.61. The trade was a 5.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Jeffrey J. Lavalle sold 3,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.15, for a total transaction of $122,617.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 35,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,386,771.30. This represents a 8.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 127,202 shares of company stock worth $5,061,558. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ZWS. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.