Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.50.

ZWS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Todd A. Adams sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.83, for a total value of $4,779,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,242,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,333,392.61. This trade represents a 5.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Jeffrey J. Lavalle sold 3,132 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.15, for a total transaction of $122,617.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 35,422 shares in the company, valued at $1,386,771.30. This represents a 8.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 157,237 shares of company stock worth $6,164,583. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZWS. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the first quarter worth approximately $209,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 228.1% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,675 shares of the company's stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 12,983 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 22,540 shares of the company's stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,754 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,371,832 shares of the company's stock worth $40,332,000 after purchasing an additional 50,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the second quarter valued at $2,569,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.33% of the company's stock.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ZWS stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.77. 734,254 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 748,579. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.14. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a 52-week low of $27.55 and a 52-week high of $41.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $38.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.93.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $410.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.15 million. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 8.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This is a boost from Zurn Elkay Water Solutions's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.57%.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Company Profile

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.