Mirova Buys Shares of 48,509 Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor $ZWS

Key Points

• Mirova acquired a new stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions, purchasing 48,509 shares valued at approximately $1.6 million in the first quarter.
• Multiple hedge funds increased their positions in Zurn Elkay, with Ameriprise Financial boosting its stake by 74.1% and Nuveen LLC acquiring a new position worth about $21.3 million.
• Zurn Elkay reported better-than-expected earnings, with $0.42 EPS for the quarter and revenue of $444.5 million, which was a 7.9% year-over-year increase.

Mirova bought a new position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 48,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,600,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 3,687.2% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,780 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733 shares in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in the 1st quarter worth about $99,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 31.0% in the 1st quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,400 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in the 4th quarter worth about $221,000. 83.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 9,857 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total transaction of $444,156.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 328,964 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,823,117.84. This trade represents a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 108,930 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was 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 in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,930 shares of company stock worth $6,501,529. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ZWS shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho set a $36.00 target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.00.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Trading Down 1.1%

ZWS stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.40. The company had a trading volume of 217,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 989,387. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 44.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.62 and a 200 day moving average of $36.40. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a 12 month low of $27.74 and a 12 month high of $46.60.

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

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Announces Dividend

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

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Company Profile

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.