Insider Selling: Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Director Sells $275,294.36 in Stock

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $275,294.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,408.48. This represents a 60.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MWA opened at $25.07 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.28 and a 200-day moving average of $23.21.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (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. Sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,954,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $381,478,000 after buying an additional 378,356 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during 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. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,174,938 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,936,000 after purchasing an additional 596,956 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 79.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,014,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $90,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780,366 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,317,000 after purchasing an additional 12,438 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.