Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Price Target Raised to $29.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $29.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 4.92% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mueller Water Products has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.40.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of MWA traded up $0.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.64. 1,728,857 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,413,862. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $13.64 and a twelve month high of $28.25. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.38%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total value of $653,188.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,378 shares in the company, valued at $234,356.22. This trade represents a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $263,300.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 12,438 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 73,069 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 2,962.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,015,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,916,552 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,952,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,926,000 after acquiring an additional 7,567 shares during the period. 91.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.