Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.05, Zacks reports. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 8.82%.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

NYSE:MWA traded up $0.17 on Tuesday, reaching $23.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,125,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,619. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $13.49 and a 1-year high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.067 per share. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MWA has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.20.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total transaction of $88,971.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares in the company, valued at $967,848.66. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $263,300.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144. Insiders own 1.10% 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.