Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE MWA opened at $21.27 on Wednesday. Mueller Water Products has a 12 month low of $12.13 and a 12 month high of $21.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.34.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.46%. Mueller Water Products’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.064 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 256,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,141,842. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,649,000. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the second quarter worth $1,217,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 341.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 4,355 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,999,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 199,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,569,000 after buying an additional 64,975 shares during the period. 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.