Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 1,363.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 3,314 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,393 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 29,408 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,216 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $291,000. 89.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 1,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.92, for a total transaction of $195,992.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,328.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 1,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.92, for a total value of $195,992.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,328.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.55, for a total transaction of $30,952.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,181,367.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,813 shares of company stock worth $448,167 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BMI shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Badger Meter Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Badger Meter stock opened at $152.91 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.31. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.02 and a 12-month high of $170.86. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.70, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.86.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $182.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.24 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 19.07%. Badger Meter’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.39%.

Badger Meter Profile

Badger Meter, Inc manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions worldwide. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities market. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives.