American Century Companies Inc. Has $8 Million Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 75.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 446,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 192,516 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Mueller Water Products worth $7,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $245,070,000 after buying an additional 227,843 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.5% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,143,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,571,000 after acquiring an additional 15,346 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 399.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,369,055 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,512,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,182,000 after purchasing an additional 115,963 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,423,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,901,000 after purchasing an additional 366,264 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $10,630,326.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas J. Hansen sold 10,791 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 102,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,112,375.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total value of $1,993,568.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,630,326.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 0.9 %

Mueller Water Products stock opened at $21.24 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.26. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.13 and a 1-year high of $21.51. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.34.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Mueller Water Products’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.064 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.06%.

Mueller Water Products Profile

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.