Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

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

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MWA stock opened at $19.84 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $12.13 and a 1 year high of $21.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.34.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $2,751,046.02. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total value of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 65,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 7,609 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 28,977 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 610,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,791,000 after buying an additional 10,291 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,818,829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,191,000 after buying an additional 17,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 4,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.