Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $9.10 Million Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 24.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,825 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 15,581 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.16% of Badger Meter worth $9,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,841,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $814,939,000 after buying an additional 44,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Badger Meter by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 796,528 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $169,448,000 after acquiring an additional 17,873 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Badger Meter by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 500,946 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $106,261,000 after acquiring an additional 7,719 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the fourth quarter worth about $94,547,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 433,169 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $91,884,000 after purchasing an additional 17,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BMI. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Badger Meter from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $238.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Argus set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Badger Meter in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $236.60.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BMI traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $242.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 73,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,296. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.49, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.85. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.17 and a fifty-two week high of $256.08.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.22. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.74% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The firm had revenue of $222.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Badger Meter's payout ratio is 29.96%.

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.