Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 22,555 Shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor $ZWS

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 1.0%, now owning 2,134,460 shares worth approximately $70.4 million.
• Insiders sold a total of 148,930 shares in the last 90 days, with significant sales from VP Sudhanshu Chhabra and Director Timothy J. Jahnke, resulting in a 53.59% and 10.00% decrease in their holdings, respectively.
• Zurn Elkay reported earnings of $0.42 per share, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.09 scheduled for payment on September 5th, reflecting a yield of 0.8%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,134,460 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,555 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 1.27% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor worth $70,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ZWS. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in the first quarter valued at about $21,273,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 371,635 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 58.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 985,576 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,762,000 after purchasing an additional 364,142 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,006,596 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,444,000 after purchasing an additional 245,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor by 45.2% in the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 533,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,606,000 after purchasing an additional 166,080 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.33% of the company's stock.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor stock traded up $1.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 818,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,358,357. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a 12 month low of $27.74 and a 12 month high of $46.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.78 and a 200 day moving average of $36.18. The company has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

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

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZWS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $36.00 price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.00.

Insider Transactions at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

In related news, VP Sudhanshu Chhabra sold 108,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total transaction of $4,750,437.30. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy J. Jahnke sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $874,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 180,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,871,400. The trade was a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,930 shares of company stock valued at $6,501,529. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.