Farther Finance Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 37.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 459 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 278 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 350,378 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $74,322,000 after acquiring an additional 12,180 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 74.4% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 5,945 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,536 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 541.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,221 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 1.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Argus set a $240.00 target price on Badger Meter in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Badger Meter in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Badger Meter from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Four equities 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.60.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE BMI opened at $243.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of 53.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $232.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $216.87. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.17 and a twelve month high of $256.08.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $222.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.39 million. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 15.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

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

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.