Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $34.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $39.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ZWS. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.71.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ZWS stock traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $29.58. The company had a trading volume of 355,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,112,778. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.36. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a one year low of $27.74 and a one year high of $41.15. The firm has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.04. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 14.03%. Sell-side analysts predict that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In other news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total transaction of $297,593.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,410 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,002,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $504,094,718.40. This trade represents a 37.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 138.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 937 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Tsfg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 77.4% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,731 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 83.33% of the company's stock.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

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.