Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Oppenheimer

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $19.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 23.86% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on MWA. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Mueller Water Products Price Performance

Shares of MWA opened at $15.34 on Thursday. Mueller Water Products has a 1-year low of $12.11 and a 1-year high of $16.93. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 30.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.19.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 5,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.95, for a total transaction of $83,155.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 128,138 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,525.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Mueller Water Products news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 5,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.95, for a total transaction of $83,155.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 128,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,525.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 75,419 shares of company stock worth $1,135,416. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mueller Water Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MWA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,097,000. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,161,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,528,000 after buying an additional 1,022,785 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,498,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,981,000 after buying an additional 974,333 shares during the period. Eaton Vance Management lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 21.0% during the first quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 3,984,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,476,000 after buying an additional 690,788 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 31.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,440,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,943,000 after buying an additional 582,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the company’s stock.

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.