Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its stake in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA - Free Report) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,148,356 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,470,426 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 4.56% of Mueller Water Products worth $160,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at $100,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 468.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 4,456 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Mueller Water Products by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter valued at about $146,000. 91.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total value of $457,552.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 126,689 shares in the company, valued at $3,391,464.53. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total transaction of $275,294.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,408.48. The trade was a 60.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MWA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $23.07. The stock had a trading volume of 519,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,574,508. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 3.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.08. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.81 and a fifty-two week high of $28.58.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 21.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.067 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Mueller Water Products's payout ratio is 30.23%.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

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.