Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Baird R W raised shares of Mueller Water Products to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.62, for a total transaction of $103,997.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $534,141.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other 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, with a total value of $50,827.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,827. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.62, for a total value of $103,997.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,141.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,024 shares of company stock worth $1,207,346 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 4,422 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 1st quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 345,700.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 6,914 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock opened at $18.79 on Friday. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $12.11 and a 52-week high of $19.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 3.53.

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

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.63%.

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.