Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Sunday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MWA. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Baird R W raised Mueller Water Products to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $20.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.82. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $12.13 and a 52-week high of $21.51.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.064 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total value of $175,472.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at $691,898.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter worth $72,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products during the first quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other 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.