Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 10th

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 0.067 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 21st. 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 has increased its dividend by an average of 5.1% per year over the last three years. Mueller Water Products has a dividend payout ratio of 20.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $1.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.27 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

NYSE MWA opened at $27.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.38. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $13.67 and a 52-week high of $28.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released 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 earned $0.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total transaction of $88,971.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $967,848.66. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 136,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

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.