Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Price Target Raised to $22.00

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) had its price target upped by Oppenheimer from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, June 22nd. Baird R W upgraded Mueller Water Products to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $20.75.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MWA opened at $18.32 on Tuesday. Mueller Water Products has a 12 month low of $12.11 and a 12 month high of $19.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.91 and a 200-day moving average of $16.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 3.53 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.33.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 8.10%. The business had revenue of $353.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.09, for a total value of $127,101.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $540,896.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian C. Healy bought 2,650 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.18 per share, for a total transaction of $50,827.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,827. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.09, for a total value of $127,101.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $540,896.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,161,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,785 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,642,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,981,000 after acquiring an additional 974,333 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,740,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,069,000 after acquiring an additional 430,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,423,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,901,000 after acquiring an additional 366,264 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.