Rhumbline Advisers Grows Stock Holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA - Free Report) by 86.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 434,489 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 200,841 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.28% of Mueller Water Products worth $11,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MWA. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,761 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Mueller Water Products in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Mueller Water Products by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, reaching $24.11. 1,648,581 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,575,204. Mueller Water Products, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.09 and a 52-week high of $28.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.21. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $24.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.82. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Mueller Water Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian C. Healy purchased 1,085 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.32 per share, for a total transaction of $27,472.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $370,178.40. The trade was a 8.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Brian Slobodow sold 7,376 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.57, for a total transaction of $181,228.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Mueller Water Products from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mueller Water Products currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.25.

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.