Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stock Holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System has reduced its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 13.4%, now owning 41,679 shares worth approximately $1.375 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have adjusted their stakes in Zurn Elkay, with Federated Hermes Inc. increasing its holdings by a staggering 3,687.2% during the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with a majority rating it as "Hold" and a consensus target price set at $38.00, while Stifel Nicolaus recently upgraded its price target to $50.00 with a "buy" rating.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,679 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,439 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in the first quarter valued at about $645,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,860,934 shares of the company's stock valued at $523,094,000 after acquiring an additional 371,635 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 28.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,990 shares of the company's stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 18.2% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 25,144 shares of the company's stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 3,877 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 3,687.2% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733 shares during the period. 83.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor news, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 20,000 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $874,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 180,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,871,400. The trade was a 10.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 108,930 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total value of $4,750,437.30. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 94,330 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,113,731.30. This trade represents a 53.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 141,779 shares of company stock valued at $6,157,792. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZWS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho set a $36.00 target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.00.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Price Performance

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor stock traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.32. 1,214,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,006,472. The stock's fifty day moving average is $38.16 and its 200-day moving average is $35.76. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a 12 month low of $27.74 and a 12 month high of $45.42. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.87, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $444.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.55 million. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 10.78%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.64%.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names.