Palisades Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 238,316 Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Palisades Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 238,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,362,000. Mueller Water Products makes up about 2.3% of Palisades Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Palisades Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Mueller Water Products as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,761 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products during the fourth quarter valued at $100,000. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MWA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Brian C. Healy acquired 1,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.32 per share, for a total transaction of $27,472.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,178.40. The trade was a 8.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Brian Slobodow sold 7,376 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.57, for a total value of $181,228.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,600 shares of company stock worth $914,076 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA stock opened at $24.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.24. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.09 and a 1-year high of $28.58. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.82.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $364.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.30 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

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.