Brokerages Set Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Target Price at $147.50

Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $162.50.

Several research firms have weighed in on BMI. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Badger Meter from $151.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $147.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Badger Meter from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their target price on Badger Meter from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

Badger Meter stock opened at $181.14 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $158.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.19. Badger Meter has a 52 week low of $128.93 and a 52 week high of $182.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.86.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $196.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.25 million. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 13.81%. Badger Meter’s revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is presently 31.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.55, for a total value of $30,952.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,181,367.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 1,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.92, for a total transaction of $195,992.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,328.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.55, for a total transaction of $30,952.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,181,367.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,813 shares of company stock worth $448,167. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Badger Meter

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,359,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 851.3% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 141,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $21,585,000 after acquiring an additional 126,707 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Badger Meter by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 397,614 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $61,380,000 after acquiring an additional 100,304 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Badger Meter by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,305 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $147,367,000 after purchasing an additional 80,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,720 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,127,000 after purchasing an additional 74,578 shares during the period. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.