First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. (NYSE:ZWS) by 184.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,556,599 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,304,285 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Zurn Elkay Water Solutions were worth $132,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ZWS opened at $30.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.08. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. has a twelve month low of $27.74 and a twelve month high of $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.01 and a 200 day moving average of $36.36.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE:ZWS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions’s payout ratio is 39.13%.

Insider Activity at Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

In related news, CFO David J. Pauli sold 8,390 shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $297,593.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 59,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,107,272.70. The trade was a 12.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Aimee Katz sold 8,912,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $504,094,718.40. This represents a 37.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZWS has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas cut 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 report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.71.

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.