Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) to Issue $0.06 Quarterly Dividend

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.064 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Mueller Water Products has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 9 consecutive years. Mueller Water Products has a dividend payout ratio of 32.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Mueller Water Products to earn $0.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Mueller Water Products Trading Up 8.8 %

NYSE:MWA opened at $18.01 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.54. Mueller Water Products has a fifty-two week low of $12.11 and a fifty-two week high of $18.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $353.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.62 million. Mueller Water Products had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Mueller Water Products will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $345,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,701 shares in the company, valued at $100,649.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,208 shares in the company, valued at $48,408.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Paul Mcandrew sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $345,460.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,649.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,458 shares of company stock worth $1,052,260. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.75.

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.