Analysts Set Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Price Target at $21.60

Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.60.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 transaction 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 approximately $2,112,375.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 32,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 279,551 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,010,000 after acquiring an additional 2,704 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MWA opened at $22.06 on Friday. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $12.13 and a twelve month high of $22.28. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.34.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.06%.

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.