Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.40.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $21.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.64, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Mueller Water Products has a 12 month low of $20.90 and a 12 month high of $31.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.45. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.01.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $395.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 12,048 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.23, for a total transaction of $291,923.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $746,865.52. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Brian C. Healy bought 1,376 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 26,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $572,503.50. The trade was a 5.52% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 52,598 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,685 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 12,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 89.5% during the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.5% during the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 11,727 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 309,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc develops and manufactures products used to build, maintain and monitor water transmission and distribution systems. Its offerings help utilities and other infrastructure operators control water flow, connect and repair pipelines, manage pressure and identify leaks.

The company’s product portfolio includes water valves, fire hydrants, pipe fittings and repair products, metering and monitoring systems, leak-detection technologies, and related flow-control equipment.