Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Price Target Raised to $22.00

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on MWA. Baird R W raised shares of Mueller Water Products to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, June 22nd. Five equities research 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 has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MWA stock opened at $18.32 on Tuesday. Mueller Water Products has a 12 month low of $12.11 and a 12 month high of $19.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 3.53, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.00.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $353.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.62 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.064 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 51,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $976,247.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,992 shares in the company, valued at $660,648.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian C. Healy acquired 2,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.18 per share, for a total transaction of $50,827.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,827. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 51,708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $976,247.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 34,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,648.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after acquiring an additional 227,843 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,161,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $189,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,785 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,981,000 after acquiring an additional 974,333 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,740,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,069,000 after acquiring an additional 430,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,417,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,006,000 after acquiring an additional 138,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.68% 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.