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

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

A number of analysts have weighed in on MWA shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of MWA opened at $25.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.39. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $13.08 and a twelve month high of $26.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after buying an additional 227,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,317,000 after acquiring an additional 12,438 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,809,000 after acquiring an additional 73,069 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,143,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,571,000 after purchasing an additional 15,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mueller Water Products Company 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.