Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Badger Meter worth $3,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BMI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at $65,448,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,715,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 21,179.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 167,040 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,779,000 after purchasing an additional 166,255 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Badger Meter by 25.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,891 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $120,027,000 after purchasing an additional 129,945 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 182,382 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,687,000 after purchasing an additional 95,966 shares in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BMI. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $224.00 price target on shares of Badger Meter in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.40.

Badger Meter Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Badger Meter stock opened at $182.69 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.17 and a 52-week high of $256.08. The company has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $211.29 and a 200 day moving average of $214.87.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.38 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 21.57%. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.86%.

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.