Eagle Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) by 33.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 686,286 shares of the company’s stock after selling 343,033 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions were worth $26,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ZWS. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 649.1% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the first quarter worth $188,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the first quarter worth $7,674,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the first quarter worth $1,068,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 7.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 84,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,815,000 after purchasing an additional 5,536 shares during the last quarter. 83.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In other news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 4,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.15, for a total value of $159,340.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 47,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,862,443.80. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd A. Adams sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.83, for a total value of $4,779,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,242,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,333,392.61. The trade was a 5.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,688 shares of company stock valued at $8,400,151. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock opened at $39.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.54, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.08. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. has a 52 week low of $27.55 and a 52 week high of $40.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 8.87%. The firm had revenue of $410.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This is an increase from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is 45.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZWS has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.17.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Profile

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.