Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,478,507 Shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) by 83.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 484,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,478,507 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.31% of Mueller Water Products worth $10,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 227,843 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake 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 valued at $50,571,000 after buying an additional 15,346 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $35,838,000 after buying an additional 395,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,055,545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,915,000 after buying an additional 61,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 194.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,033,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,528,000 after acquiring an additional 682,740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MWA shares. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.20.

Insider Activity

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 10,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $263,300.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 136,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,328,282. This trade represents a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

NYSE:MWA opened at $24.82 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.29 and a 200 day moving average of $20.27. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.08 and a 52-week high of $26.28.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The company had revenue of $348.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.80 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 8.82%. Mueller Water Products’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.62%.

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.