Man Group plc Cuts Position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)

Man Group plc cut its holdings in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA - Free Report) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 962,348 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 146,276 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.61% of Mueller Water Products worth $21,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,954,587 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $381,478,000 after buying an additional 378,356 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Mueller Water Products by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,174,938 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $93,936,000 after acquiring an additional 596,956 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Mueller Water Products by 79.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,014,131 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $90,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780,366 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,248,990 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $73,102,000 after purchasing an additional 220,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2,962.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,015,009 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $67,838,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,552 shares during the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MWA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Mueller Water Products from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Mueller Water Products from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Mueller Water Products from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.25.

Insider Activity at Mueller Water Products

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Lydia W. Thomas sold 17,092 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $457,552.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 126,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,391,464.53. This represents a 11.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian Slobodow sold 7,376 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders have sold a total of 35,600 shares of company stock worth $914,076 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Mueller Water Products Stock Performance

Shares of MWA traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $24.49. 190,094 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,567,386. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.09 and a fifty-two week high of $28.58. The business's 50 day moving average is $25.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.067 per share. This represents a $0.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Mueller Water Products's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Mueller Water Products Profile

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.