Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $29.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Mueller Water Products traded as high as $27.35 and last traded at $26.92, with a volume of 5664024 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.08.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total value of $653,188.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,378 shares in the company, valued at $234,356.22. This trade represents a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $263,300.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,317,000 after buying an additional 12,438 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,809,000 after acquiring an additional 73,069 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,916,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,952,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,926,000 after acquiring an additional 7,567 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 1.8 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.38%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.