Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Short Interest Update

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, a decrease of 15.7% from the December 15th total of 3,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 57,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.69, for a total value of $1,488,684.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,424.56. This trade represents a 57.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the second quarter valued at approximately $13,031,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 281.7% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 663,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,895,000 after acquiring an additional 489,902 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,087,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 382.0% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 537,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,665,000 after purchasing an additional 426,038 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MWA traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.94. 2,881,045 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 806,972. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.91. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $13.49 and a 1 year high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.80 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MWA. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.20.

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.