Lydia W. Thomas Sells 10,791 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Stock

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on 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 $3,328,282. This represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.82. 1,114,656 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,260,088. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.34. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.08 and a fifty-two week high of $26.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.27. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $348.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MWA. TD Cowen lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mueller Water Products presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.20.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after buying an additional 227,843 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,317,000 after purchasing an additional 12,438 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,809,000 after purchasing an additional 73,069 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,143,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,571,000 after purchasing an additional 15,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 399.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,962,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,093,000 after buying an additional 2,369,055 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.