Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

MWA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

MWA stock opened at $26.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 4.57, a quick ratio of 2.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.02. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $22.74 and a 12-month high of $31.00.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 22.11% and a net margin of 14.17%. As a group, research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.37%.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other news, Director Brian C. Healy acquired 1,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.33 per share, with a total value of $29,965.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $631,882.18. The trade was a 4.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 30.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 888,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,438,000 after buying an additional 205,269 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 58.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,934,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,217,000 after buying an additional 714,913 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 11.5% during the first quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 32,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adalta Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the first quarter valued at about $199,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc is a leading provider of water infrastructure and flow control products and services designed to help water utilities and municipalities manage, control and measure their water distribution systems. The company’s portfolio includes a comprehensive range of products such as fire hydrants, valves, pipe repair systems, fittings and couplings, along with advanced metering and monitoring solutions. By combining traditional mechanical components with digital technologies, Mueller Water Products addresses the critical need for reliable and sustainable water distribution across North America.

The company’s operations are organized around two primary business segments.