Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,800 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth $100,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 468.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 4,456 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 36.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth $146,000. 91.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of MWA opened at $27.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.81 and a 12-month high of $28.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.44.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $275,294.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,376 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $457,552.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 126,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,464.53. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

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.