Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.50.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ZWS shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions news, VP Jeffrey J. Lavalle sold 3,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.15, for a total value of $122,617.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 35,422 shares in the company, valued at $1,386,771.30. The trade was a 8.12 % 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, CEO Todd A. Adams sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.83, for a total value of $4,779,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,242,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,333,392.61. The trade was a 5.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 147,202 shares of company stock valued at $5,813,358. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ZWS. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,441,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,585,000 after buying an additional 2,119,777 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 49.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,619,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,161,000 after purchasing an additional 868,748 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 37.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,695,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,846,000 after purchasing an additional 465,701 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 4.1% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 8,801,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,645,000 after purchasing an additional 346,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 25.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,615,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,077,000 after purchasing an additional 329,563 shares during the last quarter. 83.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Price Performance

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock opened at $36.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.70. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a 1 year low of $27.90 and a 1 year high of $41.15.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $410.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Company Profile

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.