Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Cut 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 report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MWA. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen downgraded Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $21.27 on Wednesday. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $12.13 and a 1 year high of $21.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.34.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued 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 1.20%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is 39.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at $691,898.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total value of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,112,375.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,141,842. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter valued at $72,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the first quarter valued at $80,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised 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 worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. 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.