Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Receives Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $27.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $26.00.

MWA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.20.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $25.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.83. Mueller Water Products has a 52 week low of $12.76 and a 52 week high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.71%. The business had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.067 dividend. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 102,792 shares in the company, valued at $2,112,375.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $671,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the third quarter valued at $1,487,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 189.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 114,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 75,144 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 364.6% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 401,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,716,000 after acquiring an additional 315,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 256.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 42,348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 30,475 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mueller Water Products

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.