Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Receives $22.20 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.20.

MWA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 57,948 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.69, for a total value of $1,488,684.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,424.56. The trade was a 57.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $3,328,282. This represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 399.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,962,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,055 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $197,456,000 after buying an additional 791,569 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $14,040,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,031,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 194.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,033,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,528,000 after acquiring an additional 682,740 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MWA opened at $24.30 on Thursday. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $13.49 and a 1-year high of $26.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.04. The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 33.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was 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 is presently 36.99%.

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.