The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 4,030 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,030 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Mueller Water Products worth $1,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 983,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,167,000 after acquiring an additional 6,294 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter worth about $163,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,003,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $216,048,000 after buying an additional 147,482 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Mueller Water Products during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MWA shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut 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 note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was 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 approximately $10,630,326.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Mueller Water Products news, insider J Scott Hall sold 102,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $1,993,568.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,630,326.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,699 shares in the company, valued at $691,898.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

MWA stock opened at $22.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.34. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.13 and a 12-month high of $22.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.77.

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

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.064 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.06%.

Mueller Water Products Company 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.