Jag Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 890 Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

Jag Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 890 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at $65,448,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the first quarter valued at about $44,715,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Badger Meter by 25.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,891 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $120,027,000 after purchasing an additional 129,945 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 1,451.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 134,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,630,000 after buying an additional 126,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 1,239.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 128,961 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $24,535,000 after buying an additional 119,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BMI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Badger Meter from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $237.00.

Badger Meter Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of BMI stock opened at $177.47 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.07. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.66, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.90. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.17 and a twelve month high of $256.08.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.38 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is currently 34.86%.

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.