Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $147.50.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Badger Meter from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,179 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 21,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 39.6% in the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 15,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 278,606 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,817 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at $265,000. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Badger Meter Price Performance

NYSE:BMI opened at $153.15 on Tuesday. Badger Meter has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $170.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a PE ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.28.

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

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

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

About Badger Meter

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.