Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Director Sells $457,552.84 in Stock

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $457,552.84. Following the transaction, the director now owns 126,689 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,464.53. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MWA traded down $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.58. The company had a trading volume of 4,071,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,256,757. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.81 and a 12 month high of $28.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.27.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly 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 21.18% and a net margin of 10.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is 30.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2,962.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,015,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,838,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,552 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 79.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,014,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780,366 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter valued at $20,996,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,688,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,502,000 after purchasing an additional 888,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 514.2% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 970,055 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,826,000 after purchasing an additional 812,127 shares during the period. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MWA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

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.