Xponance Inc. Increases Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $100,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 468.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 4,456 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of MWA stock opened at $25.51 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $25.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.81 and a 1-year high of $28.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 21.18%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $275,294.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,376 shares in the company, valued at $182,408.48. The trade was a 60.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total value of $457,552.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 126,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,464.53. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MWA. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products 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.