Royal Bank of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Stock Price

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) had its target price raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $29.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on MWA. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Mueller Water Products stock opened at $27.79 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.45 and a 200-day moving average of $22.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 3.33. Mueller Water Products has a 52 week low of $13.64 and a 52 week high of $28.25.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its 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 19.38% and a net margin of 8.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.067 per share. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $88,971.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $967,848.66. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the third quarter worth $26,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at $100,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 434.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 4,456 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. 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.