Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $21.89 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.23. Mueller Water Products has a fifty-two week low of $12.13 and a fifty-two week high of $23.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 3.70 and a quick ratio of 2.31.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.67 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.067 per share. This is a boost from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,112,375.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,141,842. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Mueller Water Products during the first quarter worth $46,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the second quarter valued at $72,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the first quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

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.