Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, a decrease of 15.7% from the December 15th total of 3,250,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MWA shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.20.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MWA
Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products
In other Mueller Water Products news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total transaction of $88,971.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares in the company, valued at $967,848.66. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,433 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,144 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MWA. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $197,456,000 after buying an additional 791,569 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 2.1% in 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. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 24.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,999,869 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,838,000 after purchasing an additional 395,123 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,944,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,200,000 after purchasing an additional 37,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company's stock.
Mueller Water Products Stock Performance
Shares of MWA stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $23.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,464,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,028,507. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.85. Mueller Water Products has a twelve month low of $13.49 and a twelve month high of $26.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 2.16.
Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $324.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.
Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.067 per share. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mueller Water Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.99%.
About Mueller Water Products
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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