Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer upgraded Mueller Water Products from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $17.50.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

NYSE:MWA opened at $16.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.45. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $12.11 and a 1-year high of $16.93.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $256.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.64 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The business’s revenue was down 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.064 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total transaction of $560,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,892.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total value of $560,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $623,892.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $345,460.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,649.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,458 shares of company stock worth $1,052,260 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 4,422 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 1st quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 6,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

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.