Mueller Water boosts share buyback authorization by $300 million, raises dividend 14.3%
Key Facts
Mueller Water Products announced in a statement dated October 22, 2026, a $300 million increase in its authorization to repurchase common stock, alongside an increase in its quarterly cash dividend. Total available buyback authorization reached $334.5 million following the increase, according to the statement. The board approved a new quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share as part of the company's capital return decisions. The announced dividend represents a 14.3% increase from the previous payout, according to the percentage cited by the company in its announcement. Mueller Water paid a cash dividend of $0.07 per share in the previous fiscal quarter. The company said the buyback authorization "does not obligate the company" to make purchases, leaving the amount of stock it actually repurchases separate from the value of its available authorization.
On completed purchases, Mueller Water said it repurchased $30.5 million of shares during the fiscal year just ended. That annual total included $15.0 million of purchases made in the final fiscal quarter, according to the company's statement. Purchases during that quarter are included in the reported annual total as part of the buybacks the company completed during the year. The company has a history of returning funds to shareholders through both cash dividends and common stock repurchases, according to its previous fiscal year's earnings announcement. It returned a total of $56.9 million through those two channels during fiscal 2025, according to that year's earnings statement.
Against the backdrop of the capital return decisions, Mueller Water's fiscal third-quarter 2026 results showed sales rising to $395.9 million, according to the earnings statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sales were $380.3 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year, according to the comparison in the statement. Year-on-year sales growth was 4.1%, which the company attributed primarily to higher prices. Net income for the fiscal third quarter of 2026 rose to $67.3 million, according to the company's earnings announcement for the period. Net income in the corresponding quarter of 2025 was about $52.5 million, according to the comparative figures reported by Mueller Water.
On liquidity, the company's free cash flow during the first nine months of the fiscal year was $110.6 million, according to its fiscal third-quarter earnings statement. That compared with free cash flow of $103.0 million in the corresponding period a year earlier, according to the same statement. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $495.3 million at the end of the fiscal third quarter, according to figures disclosed in the company's results. Total debt outstanding at the same date was $452.9 million. Mueller Water's business includes valves, fire hydrants, pipe repair products and water metering, according to its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its products and solutions also extend to leak detection and pressure management and control, within the scope of operations described in the filing.
Chief Executive Paul McAndrew said when announcing fiscal third-quarter results in August that the company "continues to navigate slowing new residential construction activity." In the same earnings announcement, Mueller Water raised its full-year outlook for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for fiscal 2026. It set that outlook at between $367 million and $372 million at the time, according to the guidance issued in August. For the new cash dividend, the board set shareholders of record at the close of business on November 9, 2026, as eligible to receive the payment, according to the company's announcement. The dividend is scheduled to be paid to those shareholders on or about November 19, 2026.