Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (WTS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43 on December 13th

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the technology company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Watts Water Technologies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Watts Water Technologies has a payout ratio of 19.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Watts Water Technologies to earn $8.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.2%.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $215.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.90. Watts Water Technologies has a 52 week low of $175.37 and a 52 week high of $221.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $205.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.69.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $541.83 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, General Counsel Kenneth Robert Lepage sold 2,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.72, for a total transaction of $554,561.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,457 shares in the company, valued at $2,437,133.04. This represents a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 1,559 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.52, for a total value of $331,318.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,463.60. The trade was a 26.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,974 shares of company stock valued at $6,924,594. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WTS. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $217.00 to $202.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised Watts Water Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $225.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $200.25.

About Watts Water Technologies

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.