Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Acquires 581 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MWA. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $67,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,916,552 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 67.5% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,644,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,004,000 after purchasing an additional 662,637 shares during the last quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter worth about $9,780,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 382.0% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 537,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,665,000 after purchasing an additional 426,038 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 26,138 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $653,188.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,378 shares in the company, valued at $234,356.22. The trade was a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MWA has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 1.4 %

MWA opened at $24.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.38. 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 50-day moving average of $24.14 and a 200 day moving average of $23.13.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

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.