Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 3,540 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

Key Points

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Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 62.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,111 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 3,540 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Badger Meter were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 0.6% in the first quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 8,739 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,663,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 4.6% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cim LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,068,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,221 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,140 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $4,272,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BMI. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $224.00 price target on Badger Meter in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Badger Meter in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.40.

Badger Meter Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of BMI traded up $6.2850 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $189.7350. The company had a trading volume of 297,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,758. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $216.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.89. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.17 and a 52-week high of $256.08.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $235.38 million. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 15.53%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Badger Meter's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.63%.

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.