Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $227.3333.

Several brokerages have recently commented on BMI. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Badger Meter from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $229.00 price target on Badger Meter and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Badger Meter from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $208.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 26.5% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,960,308 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $707,232,000 after acquiring an additional 145,389 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Badger Meter by 43.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 503,171 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $89,856,000 after purchasing an additional 153,213 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in Badger Meter by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 11,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,071,000 after buying an additional 2,214 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 114,971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $20,532,000 after purchasing an additional 14,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

BMI stock opened at $187.68 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.53. Badger Meter has a 52 week low of $162.17 and a 52 week high of $256.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.94.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.12% and a net margin of 15.40%.The business had revenue of $235.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Badger Meter’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Badger Meter will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is 34.04%.

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.