Brokerages Set Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) Price Target at $22.20

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.20.

MWA has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mueller Water Products from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Mueller Water Products in a report on Friday, November 8th.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Mueller Water Products by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,231,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,070,000 after buying an additional 227,843 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,931,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,317,000 after acquiring an additional 12,438 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,809,000 after purchasing an additional 73,069 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.5% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 15,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 399.0% during the 2nd 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. 91.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

NYSE MWA opened at $24.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.34. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $13.08 and a 1-year high of $26.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 3.70 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.21.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 19.71%. The company had revenue of $348.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

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.