Analysts Set Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Target Price at $17.50

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on 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. StockNews.com lowered Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of 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, Oppenheimer raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MWA opened at $18.01 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 $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.54. Mueller Water Products has a one year low of $12.11 and a one year high of $18.99.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.15. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The business had revenue of $353.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Mueller Water Products’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.064 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is 52.00%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,003,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $216,048,000 after purchasing an additional 147,482 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $189,528,000 after buying an additional 1,022,785 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,981,000 after buying an additional 974,333 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,740,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,069,000 after buying an additional 430,572 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 138,018 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently 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.