Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.07 on November 20th

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.067 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06.

Mueller Water Products has increased its dividend by an average of 5.1% per year over the last three years. Mueller Water Products has a payout ratio of 26.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $1.06 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.27 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.5%.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 2.9 %

MWA opened at $22.69 on Wednesday. Mueller Water Products has a 52 week low of $12.39 and a 52 week high of $23.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.09, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.46%. Mueller Water Products’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,065,549.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total transaction of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,065,549.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.