Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Shares Sold by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lowered its position in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 27.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 39,662 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 15,142 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $8,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 1,016.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 201 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 40.9% in the 2nd 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Badger Meter during the third quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Badger Meter in the second quarter worth about $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $203.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Maxim Group raised their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.00.

Badger Meter Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:BMI opened at $230.22 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $217.17 and a 200-day moving average of $204.57. The firm has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.79. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.50 and a twelve month high of $239.11.

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

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Badger Meter 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.