Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.75.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Mueller Water Products to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Mueller Water Products from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mueller Water Products from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 22nd.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuance Investments LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,022,785 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth about $14,642,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 974,333 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 194.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,033,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,528,000 after acquiring an additional 682,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 430,572 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MWA opened at $19.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 3.53 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $12.11 and a 1 year high of $20.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.38. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.33.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The firm had revenue of $353.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.62 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. Mueller Water Products’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

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.