Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Receives $216.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $216.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Badger Meter from $203.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $73,866,000 after buying an additional 19,848 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Badger Meter by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 337,391 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $62,873,000 after acquiring an additional 22,160 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 0.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 331,769 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 2.8% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 295,027 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $64,437,000 after purchasing an additional 7,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 66.4% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 128,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $23,974,000 after purchasing an additional 51,318 shares during the period. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Badger Meter Price Performance

BMI opened at $217.72 on Friday. Badger Meter has a 12-month low of $139.50 and a 12-month high of $239.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a PE ratio of 54.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $216.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.06.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

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.