Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $251.00 price objective on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

BMI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Shares of BMI stock opened at $189.86 on Thursday. Badger Meter has a one year low of $151.18 and a one year high of $239.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $208.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.62. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.88, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. Equities research analysts expect that Badger Meter will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kenneth Bockhorst sold 1,165 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $247,131.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,162,280.60. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total value of $240,571.78. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BMI. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 8,033 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $73,866,000 after purchasing an additional 19,848 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 67.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 37,976 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,294,000 after buying an additional 15,240 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 8.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,544 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 20.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 39,142 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,549,000 after buying an additional 6,732 shares during the period. 89.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.