Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.50.

MWA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $345,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,649.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $345,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,649.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arsdell Stephen C. Van bought 10,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.42 per share, with a total value of $154,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 80,603 shares in the company, valued at $1,242,898.26. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,458 shares of company stock valued at $1,052,260. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,003,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $216,048,000 after buying an additional 147,482 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,161,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $189,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,785 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,981,000 after purchasing an additional 974,333 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,740,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,069,000 after purchasing an additional 430,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,417,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,006,000 after purchasing an additional 138,018 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

MWA stock opened at $15.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.40. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $12.11 and a twelve month high of $16.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.35.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $256.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.64 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 13.86% and a net margin of 6.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is presently 52.00%.

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.