Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 156 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Badger Meter were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,841,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $814,939,000 after acquiring an additional 44,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 796,528 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $169,448,000 after acquiring an additional 17,873 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 500,946 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $106,261,000 after acquiring an additional 7,719 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the 4th quarter valued at $94,547,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 433,169 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $91,884,000 after acquiring an additional 17,060 shares during the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus set a $240.00 target price on Badger Meter in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Badger Meter from $209.00 to $196.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Badger Meter from $238.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Maxim Group raised their target price on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.80.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Badger Meter stock opened at $243.76 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $207.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.91. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.17 and a 1-year high of $249.65. The company has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.63, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.22. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. The firm had revenue of $222.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.39 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total value of $240,571.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at $1,064,640.24. This trade represents a 18.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $31,395.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.