Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.40.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MWA shares. Robert W. Baird set a $35.00 price objective on Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In related news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 12,048 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.23, for a total transaction of $291,923.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $746,865.52. This represents a 28.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Paul McAndrew sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.39, for a total value of $1,055,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,052.84. This represents a 48.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 52,598 shares of company stock worth $1,360,685 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MWA. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 89.5% in the 1st quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $60,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 10.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the first quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 2.7%

MWA stock opened at $21.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.53. Mueller Water Products has a 52 week low of $20.90 and a 52 week high of $31.00.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $395.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.49 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 23.55% and a net margin of 15.02%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is presently 19.86%.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc develops and manufactures products used to build, maintain and monitor water transmission and distribution systems. Its offerings help utilities and other infrastructure operators control water flow, connect and repair pipelines, manage pressure and identify leaks.

The company’s product portfolio includes water valves, fire hydrants, pipe fittings and repair products, metering and monitoring systems, leak-detection technologies, and related flow-control equipment.