Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Price Target Raised to $29.00

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $26.00 to $29.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price target (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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE MWA traded down $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $26.92. The stock had a trading volume of 2,037,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,526,949. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $14.81 and a 12-month high of $28.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.38.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Mueller Water Products's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.40%.

Insider Transactions at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, 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 transaction of $263,300.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,328,282. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 3,556 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $88,971.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,683 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $967,848.66. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 98,433 shares of company stock worth $2,494,144. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2,962.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,015,009 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,838,000 after buying an additional 2,916,552 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,618,782 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $197,456,000 after purchasing an additional 791,569 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 67.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,644,603 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $37,004,000 after purchasing an additional 662,637 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,757,000. Finally, Lightrock Netherlands B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,780,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company's stock.

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.