Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Shares Bought by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 57.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,931 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,711 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Mueller Water Products were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $100,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 468.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 4,456 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $146,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

MWA stock opened at $25.15 on Thursday. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.81 and a 1 year high of $28.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 3.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.38.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 posted $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.067 per share. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MWA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $653,188.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,356.22. This represents a 73.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% 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.