Eagle Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) by 33.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 686,286 shares of the company’s stock after selling 343,033 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.40% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions worth $26,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 178.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 732.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares during the period. 83.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions news, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 52,851 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.55, for a total transaction of $1,720,300.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 80,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,608,915.05. The trade was a 39.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David J. Pauli sold 4,070 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.15, for a total value of $159,340.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,443.80. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 225,688 shares of company stock valued at $8,400,151 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ZWS shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.17.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ZWS opened at $39.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.70. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.55 and a fifty-two week high of $40.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 50.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.08.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 8.87%. The business had revenue of $410.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is 45.57%.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Profile

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.