William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,537,498 Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI)

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,537,498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,376,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 2.23% of Mueller Industries at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mueller Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Mueller Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Mueller Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. City State Bank purchased a new position in Mueller Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Mueller Industries by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 94.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Northcoast Research raised shares of Mueller Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Mueller Industries Stock Performance

Shares of MLI stock opened at $79.62 on Monday. Mueller Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $50.85 and a one year high of $96.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 0.99.

Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Mueller Industries had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 22.97%.

Mueller Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from Mueller Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Mueller Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Scott Jay Goldman sold 10,000 shares of Mueller Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.81, for a total transaction of $798,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 56,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,477,181.38. The trade was a 15.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Mueller Industries Profile

Mueller Industries, Inc manufactures and sells copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, China, and Mexico. It operates through three segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers copper tubes, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples.