Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $24.57 and last traded at $24.11, with a volume of 60360 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MWA shares. TD Cowen downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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.com, Mueller Water Products currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.70. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.72.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.03). Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total value of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total value of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,616 shares of company stock valued at $2,390,796 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the second quarter valued at approximately $72,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 44.2% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 341.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 4,355 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

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.