Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) Upgraded at Northcoast Research

Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $148.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

BMI has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Badger Meter from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Seaport Research Partners set a $160.00 target price on Badger Meter in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up from $109.00) on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Badger Meter from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.00.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMI opened at $132.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $133.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.07, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.65. Badger Meter has a 1-year low of $112.09 and a 1-year high of $204.00.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $220.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.59 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 18.03%. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Badger Meter will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

Insider Activity at Badger Meter

In other Badger Meter news, VP Edward Callahan acquired 751 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $135.25 per share, for a total transaction of $101,572.75. Following the purchase, the vice president directly owned 1,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,979.25. This trade represents a 63.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Badger Meter

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Security National Bank of SO Dak purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter during the 2nd quarter worth $148,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Badger Meter in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Vulcan Value Partners LLC purchased a new position in Badger Meter during the second quarter valued at $10,191,000. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Badger Meter during the second quarter valued at about $348,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Badger Meter by 28.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 590,079 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,595,000 after buying an additional 131,016 shares in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Badger Meter

Badger Meter, Inc is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based manufacturer of flow measurement, control and communications solutions. The company primarily serves the water industry, providing products and technologies that help utilities and other customers measure, monitor and manage water use.

Its product portfolio includes water meters, ultrasonic and electromagnetic flow meters, advanced metering infrastructure, remote-read meter technologies and software-based data and analytics solutions. Badger Meter also offers flow measurement products for applications in industrial, commercial, municipal, fire protection and heating, ventilation and air conditioning markets.

Founded in 1905, Badger Meter serves customers primarily in North America and also markets its products internationally.