Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Downgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MWA. Baird R W raised shares of Mueller Water Products to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and raised their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.60.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of MWA stock opened at $20.60 on Friday. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $12.13 and a 52-week high of $21.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.80.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $356.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Mueller Water Products’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.06%.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $10,630,326.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares in the company, valued at $2,112,375.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after purchasing an additional 227,843 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,161,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,528,000 after buying an additional 1,022,785 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,981,000 after acquiring an additional 974,333 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 430,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,417,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,006,000 after purchasing an additional 138,018 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.