Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) to Buy Back $300.00 million in Stock

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 22nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $35.00 price target on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Mueller Water Products from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Mueller Water Products Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE MWA traded up $0.45 on Thursday, reaching $22.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,324,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,381,087. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.95 and its 200 day moving average is $25.08. Mueller Water Products has a 52-week low of $20.90 and a 52-week high of $31.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.11. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 23.55% and a net margin of 15.02%. The business had revenue of $395.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.49 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.86%.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In related news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 12,048 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.23, for a total transaction of $291,923.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $746,865.52. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Paul McAndrew sold 40,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.39, for a total value of $1,055,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,556 shares in the company, valued at $1,123,052.84. This trade represents a 48.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,598 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,685. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mueller Water Products Company Profile

Mueller Water Products, Inc (NYSE:MWA) manufactures products and provides services used in the treatment, transmission, distribution, and measurement of water. Its customers include municipalities, water utilities, distributors, contractors, and industrial organizations.

The company’s product portfolio includes water valves, fire hydrants, pipe fittings, repair and connection products, and related infrastructure equipment. Through its Echologics business, Mueller also provides acoustic leak-detection technologies and other solutions designed to help utilities monitor and manage water distribution systems.

Mueller Water Products traces its history to Mueller Co, which was founded in 1857.