Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Short Interest Update

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,160,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the October 15th total of 3,990,000 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.55, for a total transaction of $221,755.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. The trade was a 9.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 12,438 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 15,346 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 399.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,962,757 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,999,869 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,838,000 after acquiring an additional 395,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Mueller Water Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.20.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

NYSE MWA traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.31. 874,372 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,254,987. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.09 and a 200 day moving average of $20.09. The company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $13.08 and a 12-month high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22. The firm had revenue of $348.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $324.80 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.71%. The firm's revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.067 dividend. This is a boost from Mueller Water Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Mueller Water Products's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.