Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Sells 1,600 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the period. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 4,422 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 6,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 2,708 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $127,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total transaction of $42,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Mueller Water Products news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $345,460.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,649.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,458 shares of company stock valued at $1,052,260 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MWA traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.23. The stock had a trading volume of 967,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,544,888. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.11 and a 1 year high of $16.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $15.69 and its 200 day moving average is $14.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $256.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.64 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MWA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.50.

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.