Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Receives $214.75 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $214.75.

BMI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Badger Meter Price Performance

BMI opened at $216.46 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.41. Badger Meter has a fifty-two week low of $139.50 and a fifty-two week high of $230.76.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.03). Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The firm had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Badger Meter will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is 33.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Badger Meter

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BMI. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 1,016.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 201 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 2,633.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 46.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 499 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 40.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Badger Meter during the third quarter worth $204,000. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

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.