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

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) was upgraded by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $34.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 15.48% from the stock’s current price.

ZWS has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BNP Paribas cut 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.71.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ZWS stock opened at $29.44 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.49. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.08. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions has a 52 week low of $27.74 and a 52 week high of $41.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.91.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.04. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 10.23%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In other news, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.60, for a total value 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 approximately $504,094,718.40. The trade was a 37.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,107,272.70. This trade represents a 12.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 13,563,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,913,000 after acquiring an additional 91,758 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,880,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242,642 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions 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 acquiring an additional 245,258 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 184.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,556,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,661,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beck Mack & Oliver LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC now owns 3,485,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,012,000 after purchasing an additional 17,090 shares during the period. 83.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions 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.