Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Holdings Lowered by Voloridge Investment Management LLC

Voloridge Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 40.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,811 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 11,414 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Badger Meter worth $3,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BMI. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Badger Meter by 348.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,090 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $12,034,000 after buying an additional 42,806 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter worth $227,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter worth $1,838,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Nvest Financial LLC bought a new position in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter worth $318,000. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $240,571.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,064,640.24. This represents a 18.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $31,395.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,533 shares of company stock worth $3,890,249 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Badger Meter from $238.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Argus set a $240.00 price target on Badger Meter in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Badger Meter from $209.00 to $196.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Maxim Group increased their price target on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $229.80.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Shares of Badger Meter stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $248.70. The stock had a trading volume of 338,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 208,245. The firm has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.79, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $212.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.79. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.17 and a fifty-two week high of $250.41.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $222.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.39 million. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.