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

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given 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 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Mueller Water Products has increased 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 payout ratio of 32.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

MWA opened at $16.14 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.32. Mueller Water Products has a 1 year low of $12.11 and a 1 year high of $16.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Mueller Water Products news, CAO Suzanne G. Smith sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.09, for a total value of $42,252.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,208 shares in the company, valued at $48,408.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenji Takeuchi sold 6,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.62, for a total value of $103,997.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,196 shares in the company, valued at $534,141.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,458 shares of company stock worth $1,052,260. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MWA shares. Oppenheimer upgraded Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.50.

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.