New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,434 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $1,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,934 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 233,660 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,617,000 after purchasing an additional 58,941 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,230,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 333.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 61,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,417,000 after purchasing an additional 46,924 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 139,823 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $20,116,000 after purchasing an additional 32,076 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,181,367.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,181,367.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 1,416 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.23, for a total transaction of $221,221.68. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,096,919.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,813 shares of company stock worth $448,167. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Badger Meter Stock Up 0.6 %

Badger Meter stock opened at $154.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 49.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.86. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.02 and a 52-week high of $170.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $156.30 and its two-hundred day 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $182.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.24 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 19.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.39%.

Badger Meter Company 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.