Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Releases Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The industrial products company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38, FiscalAI reports. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 23.55% and a net margin of 15.02%. The company had revenue of $376.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $375.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MWA traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $24.05. The stock had a trading volume of 3,211,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,409,986. The business’s fifty day moving average is $22.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 4.64 and a quick ratio of 3.08. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $20.90 and a twelve month high of $31.00.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, CEO Paul McAndrew sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.39, for a total value of $1,055,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,052.84. The trade was a 48.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Brian Healy purchased 1,376 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $29,928.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 26,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $572,503.50. This trade represents a 5.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 52,598 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,685 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mueller Water Products announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 22nd that permits the company to buy back $300 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MWA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird set a $35.00 price target on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.00.

About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc (NYSE:MWA) manufactures products and provides services used in the treatment, transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. Its customers include municipalities, water utilities, distributors, contractors, and industrial organizations.

The company’s product portfolio includes water valves, fire hydrants, pipe fittings, repair and connection products, and related infrastructure equipment. Through its Echologics business, Mueller also provides acoustic leak-detection technologies and other solutions designed to help utilities monitor and manage water distribution systems.

Mueller Water Products traces its history to Mueller Co, which was founded in 1857.