Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.06

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.064 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th.

Mueller Water Products has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years. Mueller Water Products has a payout ratio of 27.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $1.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.0%.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock traded up $0.41 on Thursday, hitting $20.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,675,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,227,192. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $12.11 and a 52-week high of $20.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.52. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.15. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The company had revenue of $353.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MWA shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Baird R W raised shares of Mueller Water Products to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.