Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) Upgraded to "Neutral" at Northcoast Research

Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Badger Meter from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Badger Meter has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $147.50.

Badger Meter Stock Up 16.7 %

NYSE:BMI traded up $25.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $178.51. The company had a trading volume of 696,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 179,893. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.86. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $156.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.37. Badger Meter has a twelve month low of $119.02 and a twelve month high of $179.51.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $196.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $182.25 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 19.07%. The business's revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Badger Meter will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio is 34.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.55, for a total value of $30,952.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,181,367.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 1,416 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.23, for a total value of $221,221.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,096,919.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 194 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.55, for a total transaction of $30,952.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,181,367.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,813 shares of company stock valued at $448,167. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Badger Meter

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 0.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,991,278 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $497,681,000 after purchasing an additional 28,050 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,651,786 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $563,726,000 after purchasing an additional 37,517 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,097,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $193,750,000 after purchasing an additional 26,896 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 8.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,305 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $147,367,000 after purchasing an additional 80,979 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 1.6% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 591,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $72,092,000 after purchasing an additional 9,207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company's stock.

About Badger Meter

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.