Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock traded up $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $19.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,215,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,245,186. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $12.13 and a 12-month high of $21.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.89.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $10,630,326.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 256,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,141,842. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the first quarter worth about $46,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the second quarter worth about $72,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the first quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 44.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.