Perpetual Ltd Has $4.13 Million Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 43.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 256,695 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,810 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd owned 0.16% of Mueller Water Products worth $4,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 4,422 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 345,700.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 6,914 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 63.7% in the 4th 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. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MWA shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Baird R W raised Mueller Water Products to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com raised Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised 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 report on Thursday, April 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mueller Water Products has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MWA traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $17.32. 744,899 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,198,784. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.11 and a 12 month high of $19.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.33.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.15. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 8.10%. The company had revenue of $353.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.064 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In related news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 51,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $976,247.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,648.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 51,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $976,247.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,648.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian C. Healy purchased 2,650 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.18 per share, with a total value of $50,827.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,650 shares in the company, valued at $50,827. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.