Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) by 84.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,157,163 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,314,441 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.27% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions worth $80,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 184.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,556,599 shares of the company's stock worth $132,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304,285 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $80,457,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,412,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,880,302 shares of the company's stock worth $219,335,000 after buying an additional 1,242,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 49.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,619,953 shares of the company's stock worth $94,161,000 after buying an additional 868,748 shares in the last quarter. 83.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ZWS traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $33.83. 958,941 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,125,038. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. has a twelve month low of $27.74 and a twelve month high of $41.15. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.08.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $388.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $383.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In other news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $297,593.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 59,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,107,272.70. This trade represents a 12.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.60, for a total transaction of $299,460,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,002,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $504,094,718.40. The trade was a 37.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ZWS. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.43.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions 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.