The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Stock

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) had its target price hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $26.00 to $29.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MWA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 3.2 %

Mueller Water Products stock opened at $27.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $13.64 and a twelve month high of $28.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.31.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.067 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $263,300.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $653,188.62. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $234,356.22. The trade was a 73.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 369.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 98,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,137,000 after buying an additional 77,467 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 361.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 266,155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,775,000 after buying an additional 208,502 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 19.8% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 390,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,467,000 after buying an additional 64,399 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the third quarter worth $451,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 28.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 347,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,534,000 after buying an additional 77,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

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.