Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.06

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.064 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Mueller Water Products has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 9 years. Mueller Water Products has a dividend payout ratio of 32.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $0.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 0.8 %

MWA stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $16.15. 1,365,401 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,087,974. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $12.11 and a 1 year high of $16.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $256.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.64 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MWA shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 16th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total transaction of $560,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,892.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,458 shares of company stock valued at $1,052,260 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.