Short Interest in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Decreases By 19.5%

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,880,000 shares, a drop of 19.5% from the January 31st total of 6,060,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 942,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $297,593.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,107,272.70. This represents a 12.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.60, for a total value of $299,460,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,002,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $504,094,718.40. This represents a 37.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 13,563,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $505,913,000 after purchasing an additional 91,758 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 4.1% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 8,801,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,645,000 after buying an additional 346,412 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,880,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,335,000 after buying an additional 1,242,642 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,441,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,585,000 after buying an additional 2,119,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,006,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,444,000 after acquiring an additional 245,258 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ZWS traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $34.33. 767,943 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,000,463. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.91. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a one year low of $28.25 and a one year high of $41.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.31, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.64.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.04. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 10.23%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 39.13%.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.