Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 397,614 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100,304 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 1.35% of Badger Meter worth $61,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BMI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,614,269 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $519,985,000 after buying an additional 27,763 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 8.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,305 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $147,367,000 after buying an additional 80,979 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,720 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,127,000 after buying an additional 74,578 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the fourth quarter worth $47,359,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 288,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $44,459,000 after buying an additional 4,766 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $151.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Badger Meter from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $147.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Badger Meter currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.80.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.7 %

BMI opened at $190.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 54.86, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.81. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.06 and a twelve month high of $202.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $185.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.17.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.17. Badger Meter had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 20.26%. The company had revenue of $196.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Badger Meter’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.12%.

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.