Mueller Water Products, Inc. to Issue Dividend of $0.07 (NYSE:MWA)

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.067 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, November 20th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th.

Mueller Water Products has raised its dividend by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years. Mueller Water Products has a payout ratio of 25.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $1.06 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.5%.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MWA traded down $0.04 on Wednesday, hitting $22.03. 910,798 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,253,461. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 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 $23.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $21.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.19.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,065,549.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,112,375.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,141,842 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MWA. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

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.