Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Upgraded by Oppenheimer to Outperform

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $19.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Saturday, March 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $17.50.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $15.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.19. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Mueller Water Products has a 12 month low of $12.11 and a 12 month high of $16.93.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $256.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.64 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.064 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is 52.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total value of $560,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,181 shares in the company, valued at $623,892.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Todd P. Helms sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total value of $560,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,181 shares in the company, valued at $623,892.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total transaction of $42,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,408.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,458 shares of company stock worth $1,052,260. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Comerica Bank bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the second quarter worth approximately $230,000. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 132.1% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 1,340.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 4,422 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Mueller Water Products in the first quarter worth approximately $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

About Mueller Water Products

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.