Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 12,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Mueller Water Products by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 45,215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 42,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 11,022 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC grew its position in Mueller Water Products by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 13,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MWA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

Mueller Water Products Stock Down 3.1 %

MWA stock opened at $25.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.92. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.81 and a 52 week high of $28.58. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 10.05%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Brian Slobodow sold 11,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $275,294.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,408.48. This represents a 60.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $457,552.84. Following the transaction, the director now owns 126,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,391,464.53. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% 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.