Legal & General Group Plc Grows Stake in Mueller Water Products $MWA

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,040,708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80,053 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.67% of Mueller Water Products worth $25,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 16.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,795,482 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $503,201,000 after buying an additional 2,840,895 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 66.2% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,401,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,296,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,096 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $124,052,000 after acquiring an additional 865,977 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,449,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $106,987,000 after acquiring an additional 796,596 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Mueller Water Products by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,440,516 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,038,000 after purchasing an additional 383,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mueller Water Products has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of MWA opened at $24.34 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $24.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.18. Mueller Water Products has a fifty-two week low of $21.35 and a fifty-two week high of $28.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 3.86.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $237.40 million during the quarter. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 10.67%. Research analysts predict that Mueller Water Products will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is 23.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products

In other news, Director Brian C. Healy bought 1,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.78 per share, with a total value of $27,584.60. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 16,800 shares in the company, valued at $433,104. This trade represents a 6.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.