Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Stock Has Average Target Price of $27.00

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.00.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MWA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Mueller Water Products from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $35.00 price objective on Mueller Water Products in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, CEO Paul McAndrew sold 40,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.39, for a total transaction of $1,055,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,052.84. The trade was a 48.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Brian C. Healy acquired 1,376 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $29,928.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 26,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $572,503.50. This trade represents a 5.52% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 52,598 shares of company stock worth $1,360,685 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 95.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 47.5% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 416,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,854,000 after buying an additional 134,249 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 4.7% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 14,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 22.5% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 56,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after acquiring an additional 10,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 18.9% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 3,726 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Mueller Water Products stock opened at $22.76 on Wednesday. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $20.90 and a 1-year high of $31.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $22.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 4.64 and a quick ratio of 3.08.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.11. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 23.55% and a net margin of 15.02%. The firm had revenue of $395.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 22nd that allows the company to buy back $300 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 9th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is 19.86%.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc (NYSE:MWA) manufactures products and provides services used in the treatment, transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. Its customers include municipalities, water utilities, distributors, contractors, and industrial organizations.

The company’s product portfolio includes water valves, fire hydrants, pipe fittings, repair and connection products, and related infrastructure equipment. Through its Echologics business, Mueller also provides acoustic leak-detection technologies and other solutions designed to help utilities monitor and manage water distribution systems.

Mueller Water Products traces its history to Mueller Co, which was founded in 1857.