Brokerages Set Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) PT at $22.20

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.20.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MWA shares. StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. This represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total value of $653,188.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,356.22. This trade represents a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the second quarter worth about $1,472,000. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the second quarter worth about $209,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 24.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,999,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,838,000 after acquiring an additional 395,123 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 4.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 86,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 4,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 48.4% during the second quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 199,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,569,000 after purchasing an additional 64,975 shares during the period. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

MWA opened at $23.13 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $13.49 and a 1 year high of $26.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 8.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.