Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) by 291.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,111 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 52,964 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions were worth $2,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,457,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,441,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $195,585,000 after buying an additional 2,119,777 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $61,412,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,619,953 shares of the company's stock worth $94,161,000 after acquiring an additional 868,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 25.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,615,944 shares of the company's stock worth $58,077,000 after acquiring an additional 329,563 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.33% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity

In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $297,593.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 59,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,107,272.70. This represents a 12.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.60, for a total transaction of $299,460,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,002,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $504,094,718.40. This represents a 37.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ZWS shares. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five investment 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, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.43.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Price Performance

Shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock traded up $0.19 on Monday, hitting $29.60. 39,874 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,109,813. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $27.74 and a 1-year high of $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.58.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.04. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 10.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions's payout ratio is 39.13%.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

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.