Graham Capital Management L.P. Increases Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. by 134.8% during the first quarter, now owning 3,736 shares valued at $711,000.
• Badger Meter has reported a quarterly EPS of $1.17, missing estimates by $0.02, with revenue increasing 9.9% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a dividend of $0.40 per share, up from the previous $0.34, indicating a dividend yield of 0.9%.

Graham Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 134.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,736 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 2,145 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,448,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,715,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Badger Meter by 21,179.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 167,040 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $31,779,000 after purchasing an additional 166,255 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in 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. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 1,451.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 134,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $25,630,000 after purchasing an additional 126,031 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BMI. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Badger Meter in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $224.00 price objective on shares of Badger Meter in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.00.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

BMI stock traded down $2.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $177.38. The company had a trading volume of 379,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,132. The company has a market capitalization of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.89. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02). Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 15.53%.The company had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Badger Meter's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.86%.

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.