Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Sells 18,521 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its position in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 40.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,975 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 18,521 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.09% of Badger Meter worth $5,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 60,903 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $12,919,000 after buying an additional 13,982 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Badger Meter by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,841,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $814,939,000 after acquiring an additional 44,839 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 28,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $5,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter during the fourth quarter worth about $6,682,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $659,000. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total value of $240,571.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,949 shares of company stock valued at $4,398,407 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Badger Meter in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $251.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BMI traded up $0.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $190.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 272,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 194,787. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $208.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.62. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12 month low of $151.18 and a 12 month high of $239.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. Research analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Badger Meter's payout ratio is 32.15%.

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.