Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Declares $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%.

Badger Meter has raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 32 years. Badger Meter has a dividend payout ratio of 27.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMI traded up $0.22 on Friday, hitting $223.47. The stock had a trading volume of 205,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 238,471. The company has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $211.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $199.77. Badger Meter has a twelve month low of $139.50 and a twelve month high of $230.76.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. Badger Meter's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Badger Meter will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BMI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Badger Meter from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $214.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Kimberly K. Stoll sold 1,097 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $224,885.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,861 shares in the company, valued at $791,505. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.80% 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.